US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Thursday of the risks of escalation in the region, while US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin postponed his scheduled visit to Israel next Monday to a later date due to the escalating tension between Hezbollah and Tel Aviv.
Blinken said he does not want to see any escalatory actions from any party in the region that would make a ceasefire agreement in Gaza more difficult.
He added that he believed a ceasefire was still possible and necessary.
In turn, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stressed that the United States is committed to defending Israel against “terrorist groups” including Hezbollah and other Iranian agents, but he pointed out that Washington’s priority is to calm the situation.
The Wall Street Journal quoted American officials as saying that the United States does not expect an imminent Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and explained that Washington has drawn up plans to evacuate Americans and other non-combatants from Lebanon.
The newspaper, quoting American officials, indicated that Israel may carry out a quick operation without major military movements, adding that Washington has no indications so far of an imminent Israeli invasion of Lebanon, such as calling up reserve soldiers.
Postpone the visit
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported on Thursday that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Tel Aviv has been postponed to a later date that has not yet been determined.
The media quoted statements by an Israeli official, who explained that Austin’s visit was postponed due to the escalating tension between Hezbollah and Israel over the bombing of wireless communications devices in Lebanon.
In turn, the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) said today that there is no change in the US military position in the Middle East after the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah communications devices in Lebanon.
The Pentagon spokesman confirmed in a press conference that his country now believes that the conflict is still limited to Gaza, and that it does not want a wider war in the Middle East.
He added that any attack that would lead to an escalation of tension in the region would not be helpful.
According to the Wall Street Journal, US envoy Amos Hochstein appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting last Monday, not to wage war on Hezbollah.
The newspaper confirmed that the US Department of Defense is concerned about the possibility of a ground war breaking out in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel, and “the situation getting out of control.”
Thirty-seven people were killed and more than 3,200 injured in two waves of explosions of telecommunications equipment in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Lebanese government and Hezbollah accused Israel of being behind these explosions.
Since October 8, 2023, Lebanese and Palestinian factions in Lebanon, most notably Hezbollah on the one hand, and the Israeli army on the other, have been exchanging daily shelling across the “Blue Line” separating them, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, most of them on the Lebanese side.
These factions demand an end to the war waged by Israel with American support on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which has left more than 136,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.