NEW YORK — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah threatens to become “all-out war,” as his top diplomat and other advisers worked behind the scenes to push for a temporary cease-fire to calm an escalating conflict that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. administration was “intensely engaged with a number of partners to de-escalate tensions in Lebanon and work toward a ceasefire agreement that would have broad benefits for all parties involved.”
Blinken and other U.S. officials have spent the past three days on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders in New York lobbying other countries to support the plan, which they hope could lead to long-term stability along the Israel-Lebanon border, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations.
Details of the proposal, however, have not yet been finalized, they added. The Biden administration’s efforts come as hostilities escalate between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, which have left hundreds dead, driven tens of thousands from their homes in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, and revived fears of a broader war in the Middle East.
An Israeli official said Netanyahu had given the green light to seeking a possible deal, but only if it included the return of Israeli civilians to their homes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing diplomacy behind the scenes.
Earlier Wednesday, Biden warned during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” that “total war is possible” but believes there is also the possibility “of having a settlement that can fundamentally change the entire region.”
Biden suggested that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah could help end hostilities between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. That war will soon turn one year old on October 7, when Hamas, another Iranian-backed militant group, invaded southern Israel and caused tens of thousands of deaths, the majority of them Palestinians in Gaza.
“It is possible and I am mobilizing all the energy I have with my team… to achieve it,” he said. “There is a desire to see change in the region.”
The U.S. government also increased pressure by imposing additional sanctions Wednesday against more than a dozen ships and other entities it accuses of being involved in illicit shipments of Iranian oil that financially benefit Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army chief said Wednesday that the military was preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon as Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles at Israel, including a missile targeting Tel Aviv that was the militant group’s deepest strike to date.
Blinken urged Israel and Hezbollah to step back from their escalating conflict, saying an all-out war would be disastrous for the region and that escalation was not the way to bring people home to the Israeli-Lebanese border.
“That would be through a diplomatic agreement that would remove forces from the border, create a safe environment and allow people to return home,” Blinken told NBC News. “That’s where we’re moving because while there’s a legitimate problem here, we don’t believe war is the solution.”
France has called a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Lebanon next Wednesday, during which the US proposal could be discussed.
“What we are focused on now, including with many partners here in New York at the United Nations General Assembly, the Arab world, the Europeans and others, is a de-escalation plan,” Blinken said.
“If there were to be a full-scale war – which there is not and we are trying very hard to avoid – that would not solve the problem,” Blinken said.
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