IIsrael has informed the United States that it intends to carry out “limited” ground operations targeting Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon, the State Department said Monday.
“They informed us of a number of operations. They have told us so far that these are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, but we continue to talk about this,” the spokesperson told reporters. of the State Department, Matthew Miller.
It was not immediately clear whether these operations were underway or being planned.
The spokesperson refused to provide details of these conversations, leaving it to Israel “to talk about its military operations.”
“We’ve had conversations with them about these operations, but the timing, the objective, the pace of these operations – let’s let them talk,” he said.
Earlier, President Joe Biden suggested Monday that he was opposed to Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, calling for a ceasefire in a moment of extreme tensions following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Washington welcomed the death of the leader of Hezbollah, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken judging for example on Monday that the world was “safer without him”, while calling for de-escalation and a diplomatic solution in Lebanon.
Israel warned on Monday that it would use all its forces to strike again at Hezbollah after killing its leader, with the pro-Iranian movement saying it was ready to face a possible ground offensive in Lebanon.
Buoyed by the devastating blow to Hezbollah, Binyamin Netanyahu warned Iran, his archenemy and close ally of the Lebanese party, that there was “no place in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach.”
On Monday, new Israeli raids in Lebanon left at least 25 dead, including three members of a Palestinian group, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon and a Lebanese soldier, according to different sources. Hezbollah, for its part, fired rockets towards northern Israel.
Israel, which has deployed reinforcements to its northern border with Lebanon, promised, after the death of Hassan Nasrallah killed in a devastating Israeli raid near Beirut on Friday, to fight its “enemies” and to “eliminate” them wherever they are found.
His Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, warned that this assassination was “an important step, but not the last” of operations against Hezbollah.
“To ensure the return of communities in northern Israel, we will use all our capabilities and you are one of them,” he assured soldiers deployed on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
