US official warns Israel war on Hezbollah would be ‘catastrophic,’ likely fail to achieve goals

A full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon could have “catastrophic and unforeseen consequences,” a senior US official tells the Middle East America Dialogue (MEAD) summit in Washington, DC.

“There is no war in lab conditions. It’s not a game. I don’t doubt the capabilities of the IDF, but we have to think about the fact that there will be serious consequences for both sides,” the unnamed US official is quoted by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid as saying, in addition to other reports in Hebrew.

The comments at the closed-door summit come amid near-daily attacks from Hezbollah-led forces on Israeli communities and military posts along the border since October 8, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza and its allied Palestinian terror group Hamas amid the ongoing war there since October 7.

Speaking yesterday at the same conference, former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Israel should shift its focus toward Hezbollah and the Lebanese border, warning that “we are late on this,” while also warning that a war with the Iran-backed terror group is imminent if Israel does not soon strike a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza.

While Gantz and other Israeli officials say that a major operation in Lebanon is the only way to return tens of thousands of Israelis to their homes on the northern border, the US official warns that many civilians could be killed in the fighting and wouldn’t have homes to return to, according to Ravid.

“There is an idea of ​​let’s go to war and then we will destroy all the missiles Hezbollah has and everything will be fine. It’s not that simple. There is no magic solution. The other side cannot be annihilated. At the end of the war, Israel may pay a heavy price and not achieve its goals,” the official is quoted as saying, while recommending a diplomatic rather than military solution to calm the border tensions.

The official argues that if a war breaks out, the international community will intervene to reach a diplomatic solution that is similar to what can be clinched now.

Since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the atrocities perpetrated by the Palestinian terror group and has warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.