NNA – President Biden and his top aides have been urging Israeli leaders against carrying out any major strike againstnbsp;Hezbollah, the powerful militia in Lebanon, that could draw it into the Israel-Hamas war, American and Israeli officials say.
The U.S. officials are concerned that some of the more hawkish members of Israelrsquo;s war cabinet have wanted to take on Hezbollah even as Israel begins a long conflict against Hamas after thenbsp;Oct. 7 attacks. The Americans are conveying to the Israelis the difficulties of battling both Hamas in the south and a much more powerful Hezbollah force in the north.
U.S. officials believe Israel would struggle in anbsp;two-front warnbsp;and that such a conflict could draw in both the United States and Iran, the militiarsquo;s main supporter.
The effort by top American officials to head off an Israeli offensive on Hezbollah, reported in detail here for the first time, reveals anxieties by the Biden administration over the war planning of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides, even as the two governments strive tonbsp;present a strong united frontnbsp;in public.
American officials want to rein in Hezbollah too. In numerous meetings across the Middle East, American diplomats have been urging their Arab counterparts to help pass messages to the militia, including via their contacts in Iran, to try to prevent any Israel-Hezbollah war from erupting, whether through actions by the militia group or by the Israelis.
U.S. officials feared that Mr. Netanyahu might approve a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed more than 1,400 people. Although those fears have receded for now because Mr. Netanyahu cooled to the idea, anxieties still persist over two possibilities: an Israeli overreaction to Hezbollah rocket attacks, and harsh Israeli tactics in an expected ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza that would compel Hezbollah to enter the war.
American officials have advised Israeli counterparts in meetings this week to take care that their actions in the north against Hezbollah and in the south in Gaza do not give Hezbollah an easy pretext to enter the war. Those sensitive talks took place during Mr. Bidenrsquo;s visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday and during Secretary of State Antony J. Blinkenrsquo;snbsp;long negotiations in Israelnbsp;earlier this week.
In both visits, the American officials met with Mr. Netanyahu and his war cabinet, almost unheard of in Israelrsquo;s history. They avoided using blunt language to warn the Israelis away from provocative military actions because they understood the vulnerability felt by Israeli officials after the Oct. 7 attacks. But both Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken made their concerns clear, said U.S. and Israeli officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about diplomatic discussions during wartime.
One of the biggest champions of a pre-emptive attack on Hezbollah has been Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, who has argued Israelrsquo;s main military effort should be focused on Hezbollah since it poses a greater threat than Hamas, the officials said.
Mr. Gallant told Mr. Blinken in a small meeting on Monday that he had advocated the previous week to launch a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah, but was overruled by other officials, said a person familiar with the discussion.
Mr. Biden met on Wednesday with the Israeli war cabinet, where Mr. Gallant was present, and underscored the dangers of a two-front war by asking tough questions about the many consequences for Israel of a full-scale conflict with Hezbollah, officials said. Mr. Biden also raised the specters of the disastrous decisions by American officials to invade Iraq and to wage a long, open-ended war in Afghanistan.
The White House National Security Council and the State Department declined to comment for this story. The Israeli military and Mr. Gallant also declined to comment.
A representative of Mr. Netanyahursquo;s office issued a statement that said, ldquo;Israel is united in the war against Hamas. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that if Hezbollah joins the war, they will make a grave mistake and will pay a devastating price unlike any before.rdquo;
From Oct. 12 to Oct. 18, over the week of Mr. Blinkenrsquo;snbsp;marathon Middle East crisis tripand Mr. Bidenrsquo;s visit to Tel Aviv, the Biden administration evolved in how it conveyed its concerns to Israel mdash; eventually deciding to couch them in lessons learned from Americarsquo;s costly overreaction to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
At a news conference in Tel Aviv on Oct. 12, Mr. Blinken avoided directly answeringnbsp;a question from an American reporternbsp;on whether he had any lessons to impart to Israel from the response to Sept. 11. But by Oct. 18, he and Mr. Biden were talking about the U.S. mistakes in private to the Israelis, and Mr. Biden was openly pointing to them in a speech in Tel Aviv.
For now, Mr. Netanyahu has refrained from backing a major attack on Hezbollah, despite the encouragement of Mr. Gallant and senior military generals, U.S. and Israeli officials said. And the Israeli military has so far not reacted with overwhelming force to the ongoing low-level rocket fire from Hezbollah. But the fast-moving events of the war could change that. — NYT
nbsp;
nbsp;
nbsp;
nbsp;