The administration of US President Joe Biden is trying to dissuade Israel from a large-scale attack on Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Islamist military group, fearing that it would throw the entire Middle East into turmoil, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing sources.
According to US and Israeli officials interviewed by the paper, Washington is concerned that if Israel were to launch a major attack not only on Hamas but also on Hezbollah, it would struggle in a two-front war. It also reportedly worries that such an action could draw the US into the conflict along with Iran, which has close ties with the Lebanon-based group.
The report says that US officials have tried to stay in touch with Hezbollah and Iran using the mediation of Arab countries while advising Israel 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.”
According to the New York Times, these concerns were made clear during meetings held by Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Israeli officials. The US president is said to have particularly “raised the specters of the disastrous decisions” by Washington to invade Iraq and wage a war in Afghanistan.