CENTCOM chief: IDF offensive in south Lebanon ‘an option among options’ to deal with Hezbollah problem

The Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with the top US military leader in the Middle East ended with a focus on the challenge of disarming Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group.

Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, the committee’s Republican chair, notes how Hezbollah has continually fired rockets into Israel, while Israel launched a ground offensive into southern Lebanon focused on Hezbollah, displacing a million people.

Wicker asks Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads US Central Command, if the offensive was necessary.

“It is an option among options, of which there are few to deal with the Hezbollah problem,” Cooper says.

Wicker later says, “It would be a tremendous achievement” for Israel, Lebanon and the United States “if Hezbollah could be eliminated.”