Small-scale operations or “border moves” into Lebanon aimed at eliminating Hezbollah positions right on the border have begun or are about to do so, according to two U.S. officials.
Israel does not yet appear to have fully decided whether to launch a ground operation, but it is prepared to do so, the officials said. If a ground operation takes place, its scope will likely be limited, sources said. The key is keeping the promise to Israelis that tens of thousands of displaced people from northern Israel will be able to return home. To achieve this, decapitating Hezbollah is not enough, the officials said.
U.S. officials received at best “a few minutes’ notice” before Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination on Friday, the officials said.
In response to reports that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin exploded when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant briefed him on the Nasrallah affair, officials said, “We bear a lot of risk” in the region, and their people were not warned very long. prepare for possible hostile responses to the assassination, which did not sit well with U.S. officials.
One of the officials stressed that there is currently some tolerance and that “US interests in the region could be seriously harmed” if US officials lost contact with the Israelis.
The sources said Nasrallah, to the end, demanded that a Hezbollah ceasefire be linked to a Gaza ceasefire.
Diplomacy remains the only viable long-term solution, even if a military campaign paves the way, officials said.
–ABC News’ Matt Gutman
