Pentagon says Hezbollah appears deterred from widening conflict

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder says he does not think Hezbollah will escalate fighting with Israel, telling the BBC that “a broader regional conflict has been deterred.”

“Right now, we see this conflict as contained between Israel and Hamas,” he says.

The United States has sent two aircraft carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean in an effort to deter the Iran-backed terror group from opening a second front against Israel.

His comments come after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday made threats at the Jewish state and expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and their “martyrs” in his first speech since Israel declared war on Hamas after the Gaza terror group’s October 7 slaughter of Israelis.

But he made no announcement of explicit plans to broaden his Lebanese terror group’s conflict with Israel, as some had feared he would.

However, there have been frequent skirmishes along the Lebanese border since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.