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Thursday, October 24, 2024
Blinken: US doesn’t want IDF offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon to lead to protracted campaign
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DOHA – The United States does not want Israel Defense Forces operations in Lebanon to lead to a protracted military campaign, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says, more than a month since Israel began a major offensive against Hezbollah in the country.
Blinken is on his first trip to the region since Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. Washington has expressed hope his death can provide an impetus for an end to the fighting.
Israel launched its Lebanon offensive with the declared aim of securing the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated in northern Israel during a year of cross-border rocket fire by Hezbollah.
“As Israel conducts operations to remove the threat to Israel and its people along the border with Lebanon, we have been very clear that this cannot lead, should not lead, to a protracted campaign,” Blinken says, speaking in Doha alongside the prime minister of Qatar.
“Israel must take the necessary steps to avoid civilian casualties and not endanger UN peacekeepers or Lebanese armed forces,” he adds.
Blinken says the US is “working intensely” on a diplomatic resolution that would allow civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.