1 month ago
The United States has warned Israel must avoid a Gaza-like military campaign in Lebanon after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned it risked “destruction” like that in the Palestinian territory.
Addressing a press briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “There should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza.” This message from Israel’s closest ally came as Israeli armed forces chief Herzi Halevi promised it would keep up the intensive bombing of Hezbollah targets that has already killed more than 1,200 people since September 23.
‘Minimise harm’
During a phone call on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden told Netanyahu to “minimise harm” to civilians in Lebanon, particularly in “densely populated areas of Beirut”, the White House said. It added the two leaders had agreed to stay in “close contact” over the coming days.
Netanyahu said in a video address addressed to the people of Lebanon on Tuesday: “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.” He added: “Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.”
Iran conflict concerns
Several reports said that Hezbollah had accepted a ceasefire with Israel on September 27, the day an Israeli strike killed the Iran-backed militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah. But they said Israel’s response had torpedoed the ceasefire plan, backed by Washington and its allies, and the Lebanese government had “had no contact with Hezbollah” since his death.
Biden and Netanyahu’s call had been expected to focus on Israel’s response to last week’s missile barrage by Iran. Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “Our attack on Iran will be deadly, precise and surprising.” Iran fired some 200 missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Most were intercepted by allied air forces or Israel’s own air defences. Biden has cautioned Israel against attempting to target Iran’s nuclear programme, which would risk major retaliation, and is also against striking the country’s oil installations, which would send world crude prices spiking.
US-Israel Tiff
The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel’s response to Iran’s attack last week that Tehran carried out in response to military escalation in Lebanon. Four US officials told Axios that the Biden administration has in recent weeks grown distrustful of what the Israeli government says about its military and diplomatic plans in the multi-front war it is fighting in West Asia.
US officials say that Washington has been surprised several times recently by Israeli military or intelligence operations as it is not being “consulted or notified in advance.” The Wall Street Journal also reported that Biden’s administration is frustrated that the Israeli government is refusing to tell it anything about its plans against Iran. Citing unnamed US officials, the American outlet said that Jerusalem surprised Washington by assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah late last month without coordination with the White House.
Hezbollah rockets, Israeli strikes
Hezbollah said its fighters were locked in clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, using rocket-propelled weapons to repel Israeli attempts to breach the border. Two people were killed by suspected Hezbollah rocket fire in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, while Israeli air defences also intercepted two projectiles fired towards the coastal town of Caesarea, officials said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike on a village in the Shouf district, southeast of Beirut, a region so far largely spared by Israel’s intensified bombing campaign. Lebanon’s state civil defence body later said an Israeli strike killed five of its personnel in the southern village of Derdghaiya.
Ground Invasion
Israel has intensified air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon since September 23, forcing more than a million people to flee, according to some reports. Its ground forces crossed into Lebanon on September 30 in response to Hezbollah rocket and artillery attacks over the past year that have forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes in border areas.
Israel’s military said on Wednesday that its troops had “eliminated terrorists during close-quarter encounters and in aerial strikes” over the previous 24 hours, adding that “100 Hezbollah terror targets were destroyed”. Israeli operations have expanded from border areas in the interior to the southern section of Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast.
According to a new toll from the Israeli army on Wednesday 13 of its soldiers have died since ground operations inside Lebanon began. Israel’s air force also said on Wednesday it had killed a Hezbollah member named Adham Jahout in Syria.
Gaza Civilians
Israel was also extending an ongoing military operation around Jabalia in the north of Gaza, where around 400,000 people are trapped, according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Posting on X, Lazzarini said there was “no end to hell” in the area and that “recent evacuation orders from the Israeli authorities are forcing people to flee again & again”.
The army surrounded the town of Jabalia and its refugee camp at the weekend and was shelling it on Wednesday, preventing the delivery of aid, the Palestinian territory’s civil defence agency said. Washington said it was “incredibly concerned” about the humanitarian situation in north Gaza as Israel tightens its siege, adding that it had been “the subject of some very urgent discussions between our two governments”.
“We have been making clear to the government of Israel that they have an obligation under international humanitarian law to allow food and water and other needed humanitarian assistance to make it into all parts of Gaza,” State Department spokesman Miller told journalists. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 42,010 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations has described as reliable.
(With agency inputs)
