According to several American officials who spoke to the Washington Post, a report by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) highlights the risk that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will try by all means to open up a wider front in Lebanon, in order to ensure his political survival.
The risk of such a conflagration had already been narrowly averted by Washington, which prevented the Netanyahu government from carrying out a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah.
The US administration, which at the time had positioned substantial reinforcements in the eastern Mediterranean, feared being drawn into the conflict by its ally. Especially as such a situation could easily degenerate into open warfare with Iran, leading to a regional conflagration.
In November, the Politico website reported that President Joe Biden and his advisers were trying to push Netanyahu out. According to some sources, the White House would only give the current Israeli leader a handful of months.
“There is going to have to be a settlement within Israeli society about what happened,” one official told Politico, adding that “ultimately, the responsibility lies with the Prime Minister’s office.”
In addition, the gradual increase in clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border over the past few weeks seems to reinforce American dissatisfaction with the situation. Far from limiting itself to strikes targeting Hezbollah, the Israeli army has reportedly targeted the Lebanese army more than 34 times, according to the Washington Post.
The United States, which funds and trains the Lebanese army and considers it to be the guarantor of Lebanese sovereignty, takes a very dim view of these latest developments.
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