Washington: Israel will likely not succeed in winning a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon as it invades Gaza because its forces would be stretched too thin, a news report said.
Citing the assessment from the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), The Washington Post reported that Joe Biden administration officials have “privately” warned Israeli leaders against entering into direct conflict with Hezbollah.
It also cited unnamed officials as saying Israel’s military has targeted “US-funded and trained Lebanese Armed Forces” more than 30 times since the Gaza war began.
“US officials are concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may see an expanded fight in Lebanon as key to his political survival amid domestic criticism,” the news report said.
Since October 8, the day after the Israel onslaught against Gaza started, the frontier between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied territories has seen deadly exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah movement.
On Saturday, Hezbollah resistance group said it has hit an Israeli air surveillance base with scores of missiles in its first response to Tel Aviv’s assassination of a Deputy Political leader of Hamas Saleh Al-Arouri. Arouri’s assassination on Tuesday in Southern Beirut, which a US defense official has told a media outlet was carried out by Israel, has raised fears of further escalation.
Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Strip-based Palestinian resistance groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.
According to the Gaza-based Health Ministry, at least 22,722 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, including 6,830 women and 9,730 children, and another 58,166 individuals injured.
