After pressing an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, the Biden administration shifts its message

[Pelican Press 0]

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After pressing an *******-Hezbollah cease-*****, the Biden administration shifts its message

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says there is a significant difference between ******** actions that have expanded its war against the Iranian-backed militant groups ****** and Hezbollah and

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, which it condemned as escalatory.

In carefully calibrated remarks, officials across the administration are defending the

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against Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon, while still pressing for peace and vowing retribution after Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles at ******* on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden praised the U.S. and ******* militaries for

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and warned, “Make no mistake, the ******* States is fully, fully supportive of *******.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the

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“totally unacceptable, and the entire world should condemn it.”

There was little criticism that ******* may have provoked Iran’s ********. “Obviously, this is a significant escalation by Iran,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Just a week after calling urgently for an

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to avoid the possibility of all-out war in the Middle East, the administration has shifted its message as ******* presses ahead with

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following a massive airstrike Friday in Beirut that *******

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and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan.

U.S. officials stress that they have repeatedly come out in support of *******’s right to defend itself and that any change in their language only reflects evolving conditions on the ground. And, officials say the administration’s goal — a cease-***** — has remained constant.

The U.S. has been quick to praise and defend ******* for a series of

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. In contrast to its repeated criticism of

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that has ******* civilians, the U.S. has taken a different tack on strikes that targeted Nasrallah and others but also

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.

At the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder made it clear that while the U.S. is still “laser focused” on preventing a

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, he carved out broad leeway for ******* to keep going after Hezbollah to protect itself.

“We understand and support *******’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah,” Ryder said. “We understand that part of that is dismantling some of the ******* infrastructure that Hezbollah has built along the border.”

He said the U.S. is going to consult with ******* as it conducts limited operations against Hezbollah positions along the border “that can be used to threaten ******** citizens.” The goal, he said, is to allow citizens on both sides of the border to

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.

Part of the ongoing discussions that the U.S. will have with *******, Ryder said, will focus on making sure there’s an understanding about potential “mission creep” that could lead to tensions to escalate even further.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that *******’s targeting of senior ****** and Hezbollah leaders as well as its initiation of ground incursions into Lebanon are justified because they were done in self-defense.

“If you look at the actions that they have taken, they were bringing terrorists to justice, terrorists who have launched attacks on ******** civilians,” Miller said.

By contrast, he said that Iran’s response was dangerous and escalatory because it was done in support of ****** and Hezbollah, both of which are

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that Iran funds and supports.

“What you saw (was) Iran launching a state-on-state ******* to protect and defend the ********** groups that it built, nurtured and controlled,” Miller said. “So there is a difference between the actions.”

The full-throated defense of *******, however, may come with risks. So far, there is little evidence that the Biden administration’s push for a cease-***** and warnings of broadening the conflict have had much impact on ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In commentary Monday, Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that

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and that he “seems to have blown by U.S. cautions about starting a regional war.”

The White House must “worry that a sustained inability to make diplomatic progress weakens U.S. influence in the Middle East and around the world,” Alterman said, adding that “Netanyahu’s assurance that the ******* States will stand by ******* in any circumstance emboldens ******* to take more risks than it otherwise would.”

___

Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

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