Top US general says risk of broader war ‘somewhat’ abated after Israel-Hezbollah clash
C.Q. Brown says Lebanese terror group ‘still has capability’ after IDF strikes, warns Iran poses a significant danger but US and allies now ‘better postured’ to defend against it
The near-term risk of a broader war in the Middle East has eased somewhat after Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchanged fire without further escalation but Iran still poses a significant danger as it weighs a strike on Israel, America’s top general said on Monday.
Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks to Reuters after emerging from a three-day trip to the Middle East that saw him fly into Israel just hours after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, and the IDF struck Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon to thwart a larger attack. It was one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months since Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, but it also ended with limited damage in Israel and without immediate threats of more retaliation from either side.
Brown noted Hezbollah’s strike was just one of two major threatened attacks against Israel that emerged in recent weeks. Iran is also threatening an attack over the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran last month.
Asked if the immediate risk of a regional war had declined, Brown said: “Somewhat, yes.”
“You had two things you knew were going to happen. One’s already happened. Now it depends on how the second is going to play out,” Brown said while flying out of Israel.
“How Iran responds will dictate how Israel responds, which will dictate whether there is going to be a broader conflict or not.”
Brown also cautioned that there was also the risk posed by Iran’s terrorist allies in places such as Iraq, Syria and Jordan who have attacked US troops as well as Yemen’s Houthis, who have targeted Red Sea shipping and even fired drones at Israel.
“And do these others actually go off and do things on their own because they’re not satisfied — the Houthis in particular,” Brown said, calling the Shia group the “wild card.”
Iran has vowed a severe response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.
Brown said the US military was better positioned to aid in the defense of Israel, and its own forces in the Middle East, than it was on April 13, when Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, unleashing hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Still, Israel, the US and other allies managed to destroy almost all of the weapons before they reached their targets.
“We’re better postured,” Brown said. He noted Sunday’s decision to maintain two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East, as well as extra squadron of F-22 fighter jets.
“We try to improve upon what we did in April.”
Brown said whatever plans Iran’s military might have, it would be up to Iran’s political leaders to make a decision.
“They want to do something that sends a message but they also, I think… don’t want to do something that’s going to create a broader conflict.”
Struggling with Gaza fallout
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been seeking to limit the fallout from the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, now in its 11th month. The conflict has leveled huge swaths of Gaza, and led Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis to launch attacks in solidarity with Hamas.
Brown traveled on Monday to the IDF’s Northern Command, where he was briefed on the threats along Israel’s borders with Lebanon and Syria. In Tel Aviv, he met Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
Asked about Lebanese Hezbollah’s military might, particularly after the strikes by Israel, Brown cautioned “they still have capability.”
The war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 340.
