By Kyle Anzalone – Antiwar.com
While meeting with top Lebanese officials last week, President Biden’s envoy warned Beirut that Washington could not stop Tel Aviv from ramping up its military operations in southern Lebanon. The White House is concerned that the tit-for-tat exchanges across the Israel-Lebanon border will soon escalate to a full-scale war.
During a trip to the Middle East last week, President Biden’s deputy Amos Hochstein told Lebanese leaders that Washington would be unable to constrain Tel Aviv. According to Axios, Hochstein warned, “The US won’t be able to hold Israel back if the situation on the border continues to escalate and that Hezbollah needs to indirectly negotiate with Israel instead of ratcheting up tensions.”
Hezbollah responded to the message by informing the US that it was prepared for a fight with Israel.
During a trip to Washington this week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Both American officials attempted to push Tel Aviv to avoid escalation along its northern border.
On Monday, Blinken met with Gallant and promised that the US would aid Israel’s military. “He also underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes,” a State Department press release said. “Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.”
After Gallant met with Austin on Tuesday, the two defense chiefs held a press conference where, again, the American defense secretary expressed his concern about the war expanding. “I am extremely concerned about the rise in rocket attacks on Israel’s north from Lebanese Hezbollah,” he said. “ Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war with terrible consequences for the Middle East, and so diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation.”
Gallant, for his part, used the meeting with Austin to focus on Iran. “The greatest threat to the future of the world and the future of our region is Iran, and time is running out,” he stated. “Now is the time to realize the commitment of the American administrations over the years to promise to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon.”
For years, Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have claimed that Iran is on a quest to build nuclear weapons. However, the US intelligence community and international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, continue to find that Tehran is not attempting to weaponize its civilian nuclear program.
The White House continues to insist it has little leverage over the Israeli government to bring a halt to the fighting in Gaza or Lebanon. However, as Secretary Austin noted in his presser with Gallant, Washington lavishes Tel Aviv with billions in military assistance each year. So far, President Biden has refused to condition that support on Israel’s conduct in any of the conflicts it is waging.