Failing to secure a ceasefire, President Joe Biden's administration supports that signal Israel's campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah and the group's eventual withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Hopefully a weakened Hezbollah – Tehran's most important proxy force and would provide an opening for Lebanon – Lebanon's most powerful political party – to elect a new president and drive away the militants and move away from the southern border with Israel.
“We see Israel's right to conduct this limited attack to reduce Hezbollah's capabilities,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing last week.
“We want to see these incursions limited and ultimately we want to return to the implementation of 1701, which means the withdrawal of the Israeli government behind the border,” he added, referring to a UN resolution to end hostilities between the Hezbollah and Hezbollah. Israel created a buffer zone.
The refocused U.S. diplomatic effort faces challenges on many fronts, including finding ways to implement decades-old U.N. resolutions that have never been fully implemented.
Adopted by the United Nations in 2006, following the last major war between Israel and Hezbollah, 1701 was designed to pave the way for lasting peace.
For long-term security purposes, the resolution would have provided for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, with full sovereignty over the south. Excluding Hezbollah, the Lebanese Army and thousands of peacekeeping forces from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) maintain an armed presence south of the Litani River in Lebanon.
After nearly 20 years, the militant group has accumulated 150,000 missiles and rockets, as well as drones and anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, according to the CIA's World Factbook. The country is also mired in a political and economic crisis, with a vacant presidency leading to a leadership vacuum from 2022 onwards, while hyperinflation and currency collapse have fueled widespread poverty.
Since October 8, the day after Hamas launched its terrorist attacks against Israel, which the country's authorities say killed 1,200 people and took nearly 240 hostages, Hezbollah has been firing rockets and other missiles into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinian militants, aiming for health. officials from the group's enclave According to reports, more than 42,000 people have been killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza since then.
Over the months, as the pair traded tit-for-tat attacks, more than 60,000 people were displaced from their homes in northern Israel, according to official estimates – and cited by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as a reason to launch a military operation in Israel. the south. Lebanon last month.
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 2,000 people have been killed and around 1.2 million have been displaced in Lebanon since the October 7, 2023 attacks. After Israel began heavy bombing on September 17, a large number of Hezbollah members fled their homes when pagers exploded across the country.
The Biden administration shares Israel's frustration that the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission has not stopped Hezbollah from hiding weapons in tunnels and homes along its border, according to a senior administration official.
