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After a weekend of intense talks, the American officials said they believed that Israel was planning only smaller, targeted incursions in southern Lebanon.
- Sept. 30, 2024
American officials said on Monday that they believed they had persuaded Israel not to conduct a major ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
The understanding came after intense talks over the weekend. The United States saw some signs that Israel was preparing to move into Lebanon, and some American officials believed a major ground operation was imminent.
After the discussions, U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence and diplomatic negotiations, said they believed Israel was planning only smaller, targeted incursions into southern Lebanon. The raids by Israeli special operations forces would be designed to eliminate fighting positions from which Hezbollah has attacked towns in northern Israel.
But Israeli officials assured their American counterparts that they did not intend to follow up those incursions with a bigger operation by conventional forces or by occupying parts of southern Lebanon. U.S. officials said they believed the commandos would quickly pull back after the operations were finished.
Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said Israeli officials told the United States that they were conducting “limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border” between Israel and Lebanon.
“Israel has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah,” Mr. Miller said, adding that “we want to ultimately see a diplomatic resolution to this conflict, one that allows citizens on both sides of the border to return to their homes.”
