US affirms Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah but pushes diplomacy
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan issue rare joint statement against Israel accusing it of pushing region into all-out war with ‘aggression’ on Lebanon
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that while Israel has a “real and legitimate problem” with the Hezbollah terror organization, the issue needs to be solved through diplomacy rather than war.
“After the horrific events of October 7 by Hamas in Israel’s south, Hezbollah from Lebanon joined in and started firing rockets at Israel,” Blinken told the “Today” show on NBC.
“People who lived in northern Israel had to evacuate their homes. Villages were destroyed, homes were destroyed and 70,000 Israelis were forced from their homes, and Israel started firing back.”
He added that “there was a tit for tat going back and forth, people in southern Lebanon had to leave their homes too. And what everyone wants is a secure environment in which people can simply return to their homes, and kids can go back to school. That’s what Israel is after.”
He said, however, that escalation was not the best way to achieve that, and that the ideal way forward was “through a diplomatic agreement. While there is a very legitimate issue here, we don’t think war is the solution.”
Blinken said the US was working with international partners at the UN General Assembly on a plan to de-escalate the situation.
The sentiment was echoed by White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday who said that the United States is deeply concerned by an early-morning Hezbollah missile attack on the Tel Aviv area, which the terror group said was aimed at Mossad intelligence service headquarters, but still believes a diplomatic solution can de-escalate tensions.
“Deeply concerning,” Kirby said in a CNN interview about the Hezbollah attacks, saying that they were “evidence again… that Israel is facing a legitimate threat from a terrorist group backed by Iran.”
The United States continues to support Israel’s right to defend itself, he said. “No nation should have to live with these threats right across their border, right next door.”
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan issued a rare joint statement on Wednesday condemning Israel’s “aggression” against Lebanon, warning that it is “pushing the region toward all-out war.”
The ministers said that stopping the “dangerous escalation underway in the region… begins by halting Israel’s aggression in Gaza,” in a statement issued after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Pope Francis also criticized Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday, slamming the “terrible escalation” of the conflict as “unacceptable” amid Israeli bombings in the south of the country targeting the terrorist organization.
“I am saddened by the news coming out of Lebanon… but I hope that the international community will make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. This is unacceptable. I express my closeness to the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much in the recent past,” Francis said.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the terror group saying it is doing so in support of Palestinians in Gaza amid the war sparked by the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 22 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 511 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 88 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have escalated in the last week following two waves of explosions of the terror group’s members’ communication devices. Hezbollah blamed the attack on Israel, which has not taken responsibility for the explosions but has since stepped up strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon that have killed the majority of the organization’s top command network.
