Israel has launched targeted raids in the Lebanon region as attempts by the Biden administration appear to be of no effect in reigning in its ally amid heightened tensions, following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The President Joe Biden publicly
Stated his opposition to the Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, appealing for an immediate ceasefire. “I know more than you do know, and I’m fine with their stopping. We should have a ceasefire now,” he said in a press briefing on military actions in Israel. Hours later, the State Department verified that Israel has informed the United States regarding these limited operations to attack Hezbollah infrastructure near the Lebanese border.
Israel has now admitted
The ground attacks on villages in southern Lebanon are launched. Such is the pattern: every time the US pushes the issue of a diplomatic resolution or a ceasefire, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu escalates hostilities in the military arena.
It was not long after a joint US-France statement calling for a three-week cease-fire that Netanyahu ordered fresh airstrikes against Hezbollah. Analysts, starting with Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute, have criticised the Biden administration for largely being a bystander-supplier of military resources to Israel-but often caught flat-footed by its decisions.
On the one hand, while at the last United Nations meeting,
Netanyahu had just given the order to strike Nasrallah, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken could be heard again this time stressing diplomacy. “Israel has every right to defend itself,” he said. While on the one hand, he said that, he insinuated that other military strategies aren’t working.
While the U.S. appears to condone Israel’s
Legitimacy to undertake actions upon perceived provocation, the Biden administration has been criticized as not being proactive enough in influencing Israeli decisions. And yet, as the tension borders on perilous situation the U.S. clings to its hopes and continues to think that peace and tranquility may be recovered in the Middle East through diplomacy, and they seem to be losing control over Israel.
To date, he has thus far avoided playing the military aid card on Netanyahu, except for a short-lived suspension of one of the bomb deliveries earlier this year. As if that were not enough, the intricacies surrounding elections in the U.S. between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump clashing for presidency may further complicate his position and strategy in the region. The administration is said to be looking for a Middle East peace accord by election time, though skepticism remains about such a big policy change this close to Election Day on November 5.