With Hezbollah battered, US seeks to break Lebanon’s political impasse
As Israeli military pressure mounts on a weakened Hezbollah, the Biden administration sees an opening to break political impasse in Lebanon and appears to have ditched its call for an immediate cease-fire there.
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WASHINGTON — Two weeks ago, the US government was spearheading the push for an immediate cease-fire along the Israel-Lebanon border, with President Joe Biden saying it was time “to give diplomacy a chance to succeed.”
But nowhere in the readout of Biden’s phone call Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — their first since Israel invaded Lebanon on Sept. 30 — was there a mention of the word “cease-fire.” The president instead emphasized “the need for a diplomatic arrangement” while affirming “Israel’s right to protect its citizens” from Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks.
The Biden administration has abandoned its call for both sides to accept the 21-day cease-fire that the United States and its partners proposed last month, a shift in rhetoric that comes as Israel widens its air-and-ground offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah to include Beirut’s southern suburbs and a Palestinian refugee camp in the country’s north. The administration has come around to backing what the State Department describes as Israeli "incursions to degrade Hezbollah’s infrastructure," despite earlier warnings that an escalation in the conflict could lead to all-out regional war.
