US backs Israel's operations in Lebanon

4/10/2024 6:16

        The Biden administration
        believes it is appropriate for Israel to continue with its
        ground and air attacks on Hezbollah for now, U.S. State
        Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, even as
        he acknowledged the risk of the operation in Lebanon expanding
        beyond Israel's current aims.
        
        Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday after
        two weeks of intense airstrikes in a worsening conflict that has
        drawn in Iran and risks sucking in the United States.
        
        Speaking at a regular press briefing, Miller said the nature
        of all conflicts was "fluid" and "unpredictable" and therefore
        it was impossible to say how long it would take Israel to
        achieve its stated goal of clearing Hezbollah infrastructure in
        southern Lebanon, allowing it to return Israelis displaced from
        their homes across the border by months of rocket fire.
        
        "We do ultimately want to see a ceasefire and diplomatic
        resolution, but we do think it's appropriate that Israel, at
        this point, is bringing terrorists to justice," Miller said.
        
        Washington has repeatedly warned Israel against escalating
        the conflict, but a three-week ceasefire proposal put forward by
        the U.S. and other countries last week was quickly dismissed by
        Israel in favor of intensified operations.
        
        More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by
        Israeli attacks, and nearly 2,000 people have been killed since
        the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year,
        most of them in the past two weeks, Lebanese authorities said.
        
        The United States has continued to provide Israel with arms
        despite tensions during the past year over the conduct of its
        war in Gaza, which started when Palestinian Hamas militants
        attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
        
        Washington has raised concerns about the civilian toll of
        that conflict and at times urged Israel to restrain its forces
        to calm international outrage.
        
        U.S. officials have discussed with Israel its goals in the
        Hezbollah conflict, which at this time involves conducting
        "limited incursions" on the ground in Lebanon while targeting
        Hezbollah militants inside the country with airstrikes, Miller
        said.
        
        "All of us here are very cognizant of the long history of
        Israel launching what at the time were described as limited
        operations across the Lebanese border that have turned into
        something much different - that have turned into full-scale wars
        and at times occupation," Miller said, adding that the U.S.
        would watch how the conflict unfolds and make assessments in
        real time.
        
        Israel has invaded Lebanon on multiple occasions, including
        in a 1982 offensive sparked by tit-for-tat border fire during
        which Israeli forces entered Beirut and which led to the
        creation of Hezbollah.
        
        "I don't know what's going to happen. I dare say the
        Israelis probably don't know what's going to happen at this
        point," Miller said. "It's not to say that they don't have a
        plan. It's not to say that they don't have objectives. It's to
        say that conflicts are unpredictable."