Israel warns Lebanon of prospect of ‘all-out war’ as U.S. seeks to de-escalate hostilities

[Pelican Press 0]

******* warns Lebanon of prospect of ‘all-out war’ as U.S. seeks to de-escalate hostilities

TOPSHOT – Smoke billows from the site of an ******** airstrike on Zibqin in southern Lebanon on June 12, 2024.

Kawnat Haju | Afp | Getty Images

*******’s army approved an offensive against Lebanon after a spike in cross-border *****, as talk of “all-out war” stoked concerns over the Gaza conflict spiraling into the broader Middle East.

“Operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated, and decisions were taken on the continuation of increasing the readiness of troops in the field” by commanders of the ******* Defense Forces, the ******** military said Tuesday night, without disclosing whether the initiative would involve mobilizing troops into the neighboring nation.

******* and Hezbollah, which controls much of Lebanon, have been trading ***** since October in parallel with the ******* nation’s war campaign against ************ militant group ****** in the Gaza Strip. Both ****** and Hezbollah benefit from Iranian patronage, and the Lebanese group claims solidarity with the plight of ************ people – more than 37,000 of whom have been ******* since the start of the offensive, according to figures from the local Ministry of Health.

Hostilities intensified after the IDF last week reported that an ******** strike in the southern Lebanese village of Jouaiyya ******* a senior Hezbollah commander, Sami Taleb Abdullah, along with three other group operatives. As recently as Wednesday morning, the Hezbollah-aligned al-Manar TV news outlet reported that the group launched a missile ******* targeting ******** soldier positions in Metula in *******, according to a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

translation. CNBC could not independently confirm the report.

The IDF announcement came after Hezbollah

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 of what it claimed to be aerial footage captured by surveillance drones. The Lebanese group said the area revealed in the clips stretches over 6.5 square kilometers (2.5 square miles) of ******* and is positioned 24 kilometers (nearly 15 miles) off Lebanon’s border with the ************ territories, alleging that it includes the Haifa port and military base and the Rafael military complex. CNBC could not verify this footage and has reached out to the IDF over its authenticity.

The video ignited ***** and fury in *******, where Haifa mayor Yona Yahav likened it to “psychological ******* on residents of Haifa and the north,” according to Reuters.

Foreign Minister ******* Katz

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that his country is now “very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit.”

Katz acknowledged the likely toll on *******, which is strained by simultaneously fighting ****** in the Gaza enclave, and faces increasing international pressure to limit civilian ************ casualties.

“The State of ******* will pay a price on the front and home fronts, but with a strong and ******* nation, and the full power of the IDF, we will restore security to the residents of the north,” the foreign minister said.

“I remind you that, according to the ******* Nations, there is no territorial dispute — no territorial dispute — between Lebanon and *******,” ******** government spokesman David Mencer said

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. “Whether diplomatically or militarily, one way or another, we will ensure the safe and secure return of Israelis to their homes in northern *******. That is not up for negotiation.”

Security concerns have driven thousands of Lebanese and ******** civilians to flee their border-facing settlements.

‘A greater war’

The two neighboring states have been in a nominal U.N.-brokered cease-***** since a 34-day war in 2006. The U.S., which views *******’s ties with Lebanon as intertwined with the odds of a truce in the Gaza Strip, has been attempting to de-escalate the hostilities. U.S. senior envoy Amos Hochstein met with the ******** and Lebanese leadership earlier this week.

“Let me be clear: the conflict along the Blue Line [of demarcation] between ******* and Hezbollah has gone on for enough,”

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, during a visit to Beirut.

He stressed the White House’s ambitions to avoid a spillover of the conflict into a broader war, noting, “The conversations that I had here today in Beirut and the ones that I had yesterday in ******* both are being conducted because the situation is serious, we have seen an escalation in the last few weeks, and what [U.S.] President [Joe] Biden wants to do is to avoid a further escalation to a greater war. That is the effort here.”

Lebanon has since sought to distance itself from the hostilities.

“Lebanon does not seek escalation, and what is required is to stop the ongoing ******** aggression against Lebanon and return to calm and stability on the southern border,” caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said during his meeting with Hochstein, according to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

-translated

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Breaking News: Politics,Politics,business news
#******* #warns #Lebanon #prospect #allout #war #U.S #seeks #deescalate #hostilities

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up