US officials have told media that although the Biden White House is “extremely concerned” about the escalating cross-border airstrike, missile and rocket attack campaign triggering an all-out war, the administration “hopes” that Israeli “military pressure” on Lebanon’s Hezbollah can end in a “diplomatic deal” that would allow evacuees on both sides of the border to return to their homes.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Saturday that there was a “real and acute” risk of the increasingly violent back and forth strikes – triggered by the deadly suspected Israeli pager and walkie talkie attacks inside Lebanon last week, turning into a full-scale conflict, and that Washington is “working” to prevent that from occurring.
Anonymous US officials told Axios that the Israeli air strike strategy is aimed at “pressuring” Hezbollah toward a diplomatic deal, echoing sentiments expressed by Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday in a cryptic 10-second X video about returning Israelis to their homes in the north. The US officials said they agree with Tel Aviv’s rationale, but said the “extremely difficult calibration” could spark an uncontrollable escalation.
“One of the key messages” of recent talks between US and Israeli officials “was that we want to keep a path open to a diplomatic resolution and therefore don’t want the Israelis to take steps that will close such a path,” one of the officials said.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah characterized this week’s pager blasts as an “act of terror” and a “declaration of war,” vowing “just punishment” for its perpetrators.
Nasrallah emphasized that the group’s military wing “will not stop” its cross-border strikes, and that Israeli evacuees will “not be able to return” to their homes, “until Israeli aggression in Gaza ends.”
Hezbollah began a campaign of artillery, rocket and drone attacks into the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms and Golan Heights in October 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in the wake of Hamas’s surprise hit-and-run cross-border raid into southern Israel, which triggered a large-scale IDF bombing campaign, followed by a ground invasion.
The conflict has gradually escalated into the largest and bloodiest exchange between the Israeli military and Hezbollah since the 2006 Lebanon War, with hundreds of militiamen, Israeli troops, Lebanese civilians, Israeli civilians, and Syrian civilians killed, and over 200,000 people displaced from their homes in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
This week, after Hezbollah launched a wave of rocket, anti-tank and artillery strikes targeting IDF sites in Israel’s north in retaliation for the pager attack terror, Israel responded with a series of airstrikes against militia and civilian infrastructure.
On Friday, an Israeli strike in a densely populated neighborhood of Beirut killed Hezbollah Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Akil and three dozen others. On Sunday, Hezbollah targeted Israel’s Ramat David Airbase, 20 km southeast of Haifa, using heavy Fadi 1 and Wadi 2 rockets, sparking a fire on the base.
Also Sunday, Hezbollah said in a statement that it targeted an Rafael defense production facility north of Haifa. The Israeli military has not yet commented on these attacks.