2023-10-09 21:56:17
A US Defense Department official warned Lebanese Hezbollah of the consequences of making a “wrong decision” to open a second front with Israel in the midst of its response to Hamas attacks in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement to journalists, the official expressed “deep concern about (the possibility) of Hezbollah making the wrong decision by choosing to open a second front in this conflict.”
He added that among the reasons that prompted Washington to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean was to make Iranian-backed regional organizations, such as Hezbollah, understand the necessity of not “questioning the American government’s commitment to supporting Israel’s defense capabilities.”
The United States announced its decision to deploy the aircraft carrier strike group, which includes several warships, on Sunday, the day after Hamas’s unprecedented attacks on southern Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip, which left hundreds dead.
This week, there was an exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, but the escalation did not turn into a large-scale war similar to the one that occurred in 2006, the repetition of which would open a second front to the Israeli army, which would exhaust its forces.
Hezbollah announced on Monday that three of its members were killed in an Israeli bombing targeting southern Lebanon, and it responded by bombing two Israeli barracks.
The US Defense Department official compared the attacks launched by Hamas over the weekend to attacks by ISIS.
The official said, “What we witnessed being committed against Israeli civilians is the level of brutality of ISIS,” pointing to the burning of homes and the massacres committed against young men who were at a concert.
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