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US officials expect Israel to launch a ground operation in Lebanon “imminently” to clear border areas of Hizbollah infrastructure, in an intensification of its offensive against the militant group.
Israel has discussed the shape of the planned incursion with Washington, which has sought to limit its scope and duration, fearing it could lead to an open-ended occupation of Lebanon’s border area, according to the officials.
“We believe we’ve reached an understanding where instead they will do something more targeted, focused on specific areas — and focused on clearing out Hizbollah infrastructure near Israeli border communities — and then pulling their forces back,” said a US official.
Some Israeli forces have already conducted small-scale operations in Lebanon in recent days, according to officials, while its air force has continued a heavy bombing campaign across the country.
Days of strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs have killed dozens of top Hizbollah commanders, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Israel continued to launch attacks overnight in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. The assault has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, while up to 1mn people have been displaced, according to Lebanon.
Asked on Monday whether he was aware of reports of Israeli plans for a limited ground invasion and comfortable with one going ahead, US President Joe Biden said: “I’m more aware than you might know, and I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now.”
Even as it has urged restraint on Israel, the US has sought to deter any offensive action from Iran, which backs Hizbollah.
Defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would use “all the means at our disposal” against Hizbollah as he visited troops on the border on Monday. “The forces are ready and prepared to strike,” Gallant posted on X, while Hizbollah also vowed to continue the conflict.
Despite calls by the US and other western powers for Israel to de-escalate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the offensive against Hizbollah will continue until more than 60,000 people displaced from Israel’s north by a year of cross-border fire are able to return home.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday his country was willing to accept a nearly 20-year-old UN resolution that demands, among other conditions, that Hizbollah pull 30km back from the border with Israel — in an intervention that seemed aimed at keeping the door open to a diplomatic solution.