President Biden gave an emphatic response when asked if he was comfortable with Israel’s plan as the US ally concentrates forces on the border with Lebanon, stopping short of endorsing it.
Biden was asked at the White House on Monday if he was “comfortable” with what is called a limited invasion. His response took that word and instead asked Israel to hold back.
‘I’m more aware than you might imagine and I’m comfortable with them stopping. “We should have a ceasefire now,” Biden said.
It came hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “diplomacy remains the best and only path to greater stability in the Middle East.”
He answered the question at the White House on Monday despite saying he wanted to pursue the topic of Hurricane Helene recovery.
His comments follow reports that Israel is planning a limited ground operation in Lebanon, following a series of withering attacks on Hezbollah leaders and weapons, even as it builds forces on the border.
‘We should have a ceasefire now,’ President Joe Biden said when asked about reports of a ‘limited’ Israeli invasion of Lebanon
Blinken also said that the United States ‘will continue to work with our partners in the region and around the world to advance a diplomatic resolution that provides real security to Israel and Lebanon,’ even as he justified the Israeli airstrike that ended the ‘brutal terrorist’ Hasan. Nasrallah attacking Hezbollah’s clandestine headquarters in Beruit.
A US official told the Washington Post Israel is planning a “limited” ground operation and could begin immediately.
Israeli armored military vehicles stand in formation, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Israel, September 30, 2024, amid reports of an “imminent” invasion.
The Israel Defense Forces were already carrying out cross-border raids on Monday.
Such a “limited” invasion would appear to fall short of Israel’s 2006 war against Hamas in Lebanon. It comes days after Israel eliminated Hezbollah’s former leader and signaled a plan that stops well before Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
U.S. officials publicly and privately urged restraint before Israel invaded Rafah, southern Gaza, and have urged restraint at other times as they pushed for a ceasefire and the release of hostages Hamaz took. during their brutal October 7 attack inside Israel.
Biden on Saturday called Nasrallah’s death “a measure of justice” for his victims. Asked then if an Israeli invasion was inevitable, Biden responded by saying: “It’s time for a ceasefire.”
American diplomats rush to help American citizens seeking to leave Beirut.
The embassy posted on Monday that it is coordinating with airlines to help American citizens leave after a series of airstrikes.
Israel’s latest air campaign has killed more than 1,000 people, and at least 100,000 have crossed into war-torn Syria to avoid bombing, and makeshift shelters in the capital are desperately overcrowded, according to UNHCR.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with troops near the Lebanese border today, insisting that Israel would “use all the capabilities we have” to ensure the return of some 60,000 Israelis displaced from the north by nearly a year of border clashes. .
He added that “everything that needs to be done will be done” and that “we will use all the forces of the air, sea and land.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning to the Iranian regime, now threatening retaliation for attacks on Hezbollah, stating that “there is nowhere in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach.”