A senior American official on Monday warned against a possible all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, suggesting such an escalation could have “catastrophic and unforeseen consequences,” Barak Ravid reported. The official spoke at the MEAD annual summit “Advancing Middle East – America Dialogue.” The conference was held in Washington DC this weekend, co-chaired by Amb. Tom Nides, Amb. David Friedman, Amb. Dennis Ross, and former Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams.
The American senior official was speaking against the background of increased preparations in Israel for further escalation in the fighting in Lebanon, which include diverting forces from Gaza to attack Hezbollah (CENTCOM Commander Meets with Israeli Defense Leaders on Hezbollah, Iran).
The US official said no war happens under lab conditions, it’s not a game, and even though he didn’t doubt the IDF’s capabilities, there would be serious consequences for both sides from such an encounter. According to him, officials in Israel who want to go to war against Hezbollah to return the residents of the north to their homes should take into account that many Israelis could be killed in such a scenario, and many others would have no homes to return to.
In other words, the standard American scare tactics of which they never tire, as was the case before the IDF entered Rafah, and even earlier, before the IDF invaded the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack.
אין להכריח את הילדים שלנו לעזוב את השיעורים שלהם כדי לרוץ, מפוחדים וצורחים, למקלט כי חיזבאללה תוקף את בית הספר שלהם.
הסרטון הזה הוא מנהריה, אבל זה יכול להיות מכל מקום בישראל. חייבים לשים קץ לחיזבאללה. אנחנו צריכים למחוק אותם מהמפה. הם לא בני אדם, הם מפלצות טרור. pic.twitter.com/ibyNXMmM3J— Jared Sukukhin – ג’ארד סוקוחין (@SukukhinJared) September 9, 2024
The senior US official criticized the idea of “let’s go to war and then we’ll destroy all the Hezbollah missiles and everything will be fine,” and lectured, having only recently fled a humiliating military campaign in Afghanistan, that it’s not that simple, there’s no magic solution, and the other side cannot be destroyed. As Ravid quoted him: “At the end of the war, Israel may pay a heavy price and not achieve its goals.”
According to Ravid, the American official emphasized that a war in Lebanon would result in the intervention of the international community to achieve a diplomatic settlement, which would be very similar to the diplomatic settlement being sought now.
Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. All Israel is seeking is for Hezbollah to retreat north of the Litany River, as per the 2006 UN resolution 1701. The fact that a high US official is suggesting such an outcome can be achieved today, without erasing Hezbollah’s presence on Israel’s border, is news to anyone who has been following Nasrallah’s mini-war in the past 11 months.
I have no idea why Ravid found it necessary to report the above claptrap; I chose to cite Ravid because he is one of the White House’s main megaphones, which means the administration wants to stop Israel from attacking Lebanon even though there’s no chance at all Hezbollah would obey the rules and stop shooting at Israeli civilians.
