The State Department said Tuesday that it doesn’t want to see a ceasefire in Lebanon and supports the heavy Israeli bombardment of the country to “degrade Hezbollah.”
State Department spokesman Matt Miller was asked about comments from Hezbollah Deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem, who said the group supports efforts by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to reach a ceasefire without mentioning that it must also include a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Now that Hezbollah is on the back foot and is getting battered, suddenly, they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire,” Miller told reporters.
Miller claimed the US “ultimately wants a diplomatic solution” but voiced strong support for Israeli military operations, which have killed more than 1,250 people, including over 100 children. “We support Israel’s efforts to degrade Hezbollah’s capability,” he said.
The US is still characterizing the Israeli assault on Lebanon as a “limited incursion” despite the massive bombings in Beirut and across the country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on Tuesday that more escalations were coming. In a threatening message to the people of Lebanon, he called for them to “free” the country of Hezbollah or they will face “destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.”
Before Israel launched a strike that killed Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, the US was calling for a temporary 21-day ceasefire. But the US put no real pressure on Israel to accept the truce since it provided a massive new military aid package as Netanyahu was rejecting the idea of a ceasefire.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said that Nasrallah agreed to a 21-day ceasefire with Israel just days before he was killed and that the US was informed of his decision. The State Department denied that the US was informed Nasrallah accepted the truce, but CNN later reported that a Western source familiar with the negotiations said Hezbollah had agreed to the ceasefire.
The US has discussed the idea of supporting Israel’s expected attack on Iran with intelligence or with airstrikes of its own, NBC News reported on Tuesday, citing two unnamed US officials.
The report said senior US military officials have discussed launching “very limited” airstrikes against Iranian targets inside Iran or outside of the country, though the US officials said intelligence support for Israel was more likely.
So far, no final decision on US action has been made, according to the report, and the US officials said Israel has not briefed the US on its specific plans to strike Iran in response to the Iranian missile barrage that hit Israel last week.
Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles into Israel in response to multiple Israeli escalations in the region, including the July 31 assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. In the aftermath, the US said it would work with Israel to ensure Iran faces “severe consequences” for the attack.
The Israelis are considering several types of targets to hit in Iran: military and intelligence infrastructure, air defenses, and energy facilities. Based on media reports, Israel does not plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities in its first attack, but could if Iran hits back and the situation turns into a full-blown war, which Israeli officials think is likely to happen.
Source: Antiwar.com
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