John Harney and Larry Liebert | Bloomberg News (TNS)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that a war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would have “terrible consequences,” as the Biden administration struggles to avert a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Austin spoke Tuesday at the Pentagon alongside Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is visiting Washington this week. His remarks were intended as much for Israeli officials who threaten to open a new offensive against Hezbollah, which has fired barrages of rockets on northern Israel in recent days.
“Hezbollah’s provocations threaten to drag the Israeli and Lebanese people into a war that they do not want, and such a war would be a catastrophe for Lebanon, and it would be devastating for innocent Israeli and Lebanese civilians,” Austin said.
Such a conflict, he added, “could easily become a regional war with terrible consequences for the Middle East.”
Last week, the U.S. diplomat Amos Hochstein made the latest of several trips to the Middle East to ease animosities between Israel and Hezbollah, which like Hamas in the Gaza Strip is considered a terrorist organization by Washington.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that some forces who have been involved in the campaign against Hamas in Gaza would be redeployed to the north, where Hezbollah, an ally of Iran and supporter of Hamas, poses a threat.
“If we can, we’ll do this by diplomatic means, if not it’ll be achieved in another way,” Netanyahu said.
Cross-border artillery and rocket fire began shortly after Israeli forces entered Gaza in the wake of the Hamas assault on Israel last October. Civilians in both Lebanon and northern Israel have had to leave their homes.
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Gallant’s visit to Washington unfolds as his country’s relationship with Washington has come under strain over the Gaza war, with Netanyahu accusing the Biden administration of withholding weapons. The White House has denied that arms have been held back, and accounts of meetings that Gallant had with both Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday did not mention the dispute.
Gallant did, however, urge the U.S. to support Israel in the confrontation with Hezbollah and put aside any disagreements. “The eyes of both our enemies and our friends are on the relationship between the U.S. and Israel,” Gallant said, according to a statement from his office. “We must resolve the differences between us quickly and stand together – this is how we will achieve our goals and weaken our enemies.”
(With assistance from Alisa Odenheimer.)
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