American officials are increasingly alarmed that a recent surge in violence between Israel and Hezbollah could erupt into a full-scale war, according to a CBS News report.
The officials are particularly concerned that the more frequent rocket fire from Lebanon could “result in unintended consequences that trigger an event Israel feels compelled to respond to,” the report said.
These officials interpret the recent Israeli strikes deeper into Lebanon as “preparing the battlefield for a sweeping assault” by the Israeli army. There is a growing fear among them that an escalation by Israel will “start a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon that it cannot finish” without US support.
They have noted that Israeli army troops in the north are “training in brigade-sized units, but are not yet in position to begin an assault.”
Senior US presidential adviser Amos Hochstein is on his way to Israel, a visit that is aimed, among others, to de-escalate the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli front.
