Israeli officials have warned of military attacks in Lebanon if negotiations to expel Hezbollah from the border are not concluded.
 "Israeli invasion of Lebanon risks Iranian retaliation: U.S. military")
A senior US military official said on Sunday that an Israeli invasion of Lebanon would risk an Iranian counterattack in defense of Hezbollah. Photo: pexelsAP Espargos (Cape Verde)
A senior U.S. military official said Sunday that an Israeli invasion of Lebanon would risk an Iranian counterattack in defense of Hezbollah, potentially triggering a broader war and putting U.S. forces in the region at risk.
“Iran is more likely to support Hezbollah,” said Air Force Gen. C. Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He added that Tehran supports Hamas but would increase its support for Hezbollah, especially if it felt it was under a significant threat.
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Brown spoke to reporters during a visit to Botswana to attend a meeting of African defence ministers.
Israeli officials have warned of military strikes in Lebanon if negotiations to push Hezbollah away from the border are not concluded. Just days ago, the Israeli military announced it had approved and verified plans for attacks in Lebanon, even as the United States seeks to prevent months of cross-border attacks from escalating into full-scale war.
U.S. officials have been trying to broker a diplomatic solution to the conflict, and the issue is expected to come up this week when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visits Washington to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other senior U.S. officials.
Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, met with Lebanese and Israeli officials last week in an attempt to ease tensions. Hochstein told reporters in Beirut on Tuesday that the situation was very serious and that a diplomatic solution to prevent a larger war was urgently needed.
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Brown also said the United States would not be able to help defend Israel from a broader war against Hezbollah in the same way it helped Israel repel a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones in April. He said it would be harder to defend against the short-range rockets that Hezbollah regularly fires across the border into Israel.
Pentagon officials said Secretary of Defense Austin also expressed concerns about a broader conflict during a recent phone call with Secretary of Defense Gallant.
“Given the volume of rockets that have been fired from both sides of the border, we are certainly concerned about the situation and have publicly and privately urged all parties to restore calm along the border and seek a diplomatic solution,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said last week.
A war between the two heavily armed countries would be devastating for both and risk heavy civilian casualties. Hezbollah's rocket arsenal is thought to be much larger than Hamas's.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading gunfire on the Lebanon-Northern Israel border since early October, when fighters from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip launched a bloody attack into southern Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The situation escalated after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hezbollah military commander in southern Lebanon this month. Hezbollah retaliated by firing hundreds of rockets and explosive drones into northern Israel, prompting Israel to launch heavy attacks against the militant group.
The Israeli attack left more than 400 people dead in Lebanon, including 70 civilians. On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 10 civilians were killed.
An escalation of the conflict could also provoke the broader involvement of other Iranian-backed militant groups in the region, leading to all-out war.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech last Wednesday that militant leaders from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen have offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to support Hezbollah, but that the group already has more than 100,000 fighters.
