(Bloomberg) — The US expects Israel to launch a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon after Washington cautioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government against a larger and longer-term operation to root out Hezbollah, according to a US official.
The official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said the Biden administration persuaded Israel to conduct targeted attacks focused on clearing the group’s infrastructure from the Lebanon-Israel border.
Asked Monday morning whether the White House was aware of a possible Israeli incursion, President Joe Biden called again for a halt to the fighting.
“I’m more aware than you might know and I’m comfortable with them stopping,” Biden said. “We should have a cease-fire now.”
Israel earlier in the day signaled it’s ready to use more ground forces against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, including tank units, after running small-scale commando operations over the border for months. The preparations come after Israel pounded Beirut with massive airstrikes, including the assassination of the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday and a strike in the center of the capital Monday.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told tank crews deployed along the border Monday that the killing of Nasrallah wasn’t the final step in the fight against Hezbollah and that “we will employ all the capabilities at our disposal.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goal of crushing the Iran-backed group is to end the rocket attacks that forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes in northern Israel. A similar exodus has been seen in southern Lebanon amid Israel’s retaliation.
The Biden administration has failed several times to limit and shape Israel’s military response since Oct. 7, when Hamas in Gaza killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200 in southern Israel. Hezbollah began its rocket attacks the next day. Both groups are backed by Iran, which Netanyahu has said is Israel’s biggest threat.
US officials had warned Israel against a full-scale invasion in Gaza and withheld a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to make the point. While Israel undertook a limited ground operation, it later seized the Rafah border crossing and eventually moved troops into the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border — developments that made it more difficult to achieve the cease-fire the administration was seeking.
—With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Iain Marlow.
(Bloomberg) — The US expects Israel to launch a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon after Washington cautioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government against a larger and longer-term operation to root out Hezbollah, according to a US official.
The official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said the Biden administration persuaded Israel to conduct targeted attacks focused on clearing the group’s infrastructure from the Lebanon-Israel border.
Asked Monday morning whether the White House was aware of a possible Israeli incursion, President Joe Biden called again for a halt to the fighting.
“I’m more aware than you might know and I’m comfortable with them stopping,” Biden said. “We should have a cease-fire now.”
Israel earlier in the day signaled it’s ready to use more ground forces against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, including tank units, after running small-scale commando operations over the border for months. The preparations come after Israel pounded Beirut with massive airstrikes, including the assassination of the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday and a strike in the center of the capital Monday.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told tank crews deployed along the border Monday that the killing of Nasrallah wasn’t the final step in the fight against Hezbollah and that “we will employ all the capabilities at our disposal.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goal of crushing the Iran-backed group is to end the rocket attacks that forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes in northern Israel. A similar exodus has been seen in southern Lebanon amid Israel’s retaliation.
The Biden administration has failed several times to limit and shape Israel’s military response since Oct. 7, when Hamas in Gaza killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200 in southern Israel. Hezbollah began its rocket attacks the next day. Both groups are backed by Iran, which Netanyahu has said is Israel’s biggest threat.
US officials had warned Israel against a full-scale invasion in Gaza and withheld a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to make the point. While Israel undertook a limited ground operation, it later seized the Rafah border crossing and eventually moved troops into the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border — developments that made it more difficult to achieve the cease-fire the administration was seeking.
—With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Iain Marlow.
