Ex-security official in Lebanon says Hezbollah not interested in wider war with Israel

A former top Lebanese security official who has served as a conduit between the United States and Hezbollah says that, at this stage, the Lebanese terror group is not interested in widening its limited cross-border conflict with Israel.

Abbas Ibrahim, a former head of Lebanon’s General Security, says that as long as Hamas is able to confront the IDF in the Gaza Strip, “the situation will remain at the current level of tension” on the Lebanese front.

However, the situation could escalate inadvertently, he says: “If we continue with this degree of tension it will certainly lead to bad calculations and a war will happen.”

So far, six Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed by cross-border strikes in the north, while the terror group says that 60 of its fighters have been killed, and AFP says that 13 other terror operatives have been killed and 10 civilians.

Ibrahim says US officials had passed messages through him to Hezbollah urging it “not to drag Lebanon into this war,” including during a visit to Beirut last week by Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden.

Hezbollah has not sent messages of its own to the US in response, Ibrahim says.