The United States and its allies are stepping up efforts to prevent a war between Israel and Hamas from engulfing the wider region, fearing an Israeli military incursion into Gaza could prompt Iran to become involved in the conflict.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS News on Sunday that the United States has warned Iran in secret talks in recent days about the risk of escalation. Facing the country. He said the United States could not rule out Iranian intervention either directly or through the Lebanese militia Hezbollah it supports.
Israel’s emergency government has vowed to eliminate Hamas and mobilized 300,000 reservists ahead of a massive ground attack. A person familiar with the negotiations said the United States has asked Qatar to tell Hezbollah not to open a second front as hostilities are concentrated around Israel’s blockaded southern enclave. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the negotiations.
The danger is that the conflict spreads beyond the region, and a sense of panic is palpable amid rounds of shuttle diplomacy. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley told Sky News on Sunday that he urged Israel to minimize civilian deaths to avoid fanning the flames.
“It is in Israel’s interest to avoid civilian casualties and Palestinian casualties, as Hamas clearly wants to turn this into a broader Arab-Israeli war, or indeed a war between the Muslim world and the wider world.” explain. “None of us, including Israel, want this to be the case.”
Qatar has become important pipeline It is home to the political offices of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization in the United States and the European Union and launched shocking cross-border attacks last weekend that killed 1,300 Israelis. A person familiar with Gulf efforts said regional governments were joining forces to try to prevent the conflict from spreading. Another person familiar with the diplomatic negotiations said that for Kuwait, there was a serious concern that Iran would become involved.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been on a frantic tour of the Middle East seeking help from Arab countries to contain the fallout, and he held his first conference call with Arab countries on the issue. his Chinese counterpartasking Foreign Minister Wang Yi to deploy Beijing’s influence in the region toward the same goal.
Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, and Israeli forces suffered their deadliest attack in decades as they prepared for a major offensive in Gaza.Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza has killed more than 2,300 Palestinians and there are fears the attack will spark a humanitarian disaster.
Iran, which provides funds and weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah, has vowed that its so-called “axis of resistance” will respond to Israel’s “war crimes”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdoullahian said during a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in Doha that if Israel continues its invasion of Gaza, “there will be no People can ensure control of the situation and prevent the spread of conflict “.
Israeli officials say they hope the deployment of U.S. warships in the eastern Mediterranean will deter Iran and its proxies, but they are still rushing reinforcements to the northern border with Lebanon and Syria. Iran’s foreign minister also met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday to discuss responses to Israel’s actions, the state-run IRNA news agency said.
Turkey believes that the deployment of US warship strike groups in the Eastern Mediterranean is encouraging Israel to use excessive force in response to Hamas attacks. Although the United States calls it a deterrent, Turkey fears the presence of American warships will only exacerbate tensions rather than reduce them.
Mortars were fired over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon on Saturday and Sunday, and a group of infiltrators was intercepted by Israeli aircraft, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Hezbollah has more than 100,000 rockets and missiles, some of which can reach central Israel, where Tel Aviv is located. In 2006, a month-long war broke out between Israel and Lebanese groups.
Israel marks the unprecedented attack as September 11. Israel says its goal is to destroy Hamas’s military and political leadership in the coastal Gaza Strip, which it has controlled since 2007. This war objective could take months and likely result in heavy casualties.
A senior French official who spoke on condition of anonymity said containment of spillover effects has been at the heart of French President Emmanuel Macron’s many conversations with regional leaders since the atrocity.
France has also conveyed the message to Hezbollah and Iran, while EU leaders are scheduled to hold a video conference on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, the official said.
President Joe Biden pledged America’s “unwavering” support for Israel in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday. In a separate phone call, he also expressed his “full support” to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. Gaza has been blockaded for years, and Israel has cut off water, fuel and electricity in recent days.
Speaking at a dinner in Washington, Biden accused Palestinian militants of using “innocent Palestinian families” as human shields, “the vast majority of whom have nothing to do with Hamas.”His envoy Blinken plans a second Stop in Israel on Monday Further consultations with senior Israeli officials.
Avoid a two-front war
Retired Major General Yaakov Amidrol, who served as Netanyahu’s national security adviser a decade ago, said Israel is preparing everything it needs logistically and operationally to deal with any threat from Lebanon. “They are a force that can move in minutes if necessary. Of course, it is not easy to deal with two fronts at the same time,” but the Israeli army “can do it,” he said.
Some commentators are taking a more radical approach. Ariel Kahana, senior diplomatic correspondent for the right-wing Israeli newspaper Hayom, said Israel cannot wait for Hezbollah to launch an attack.
The Washington-based Institute for War Studies reported on October 9 that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah had deployed troops to Syria’s southwest border. These deployments are consistent with the Gaza conflict expanding into a multi-front war. around Israel, the report said.
National security adviser Chachi Hanegbi told a late-night press conference on Saturday that Israel’s goal was to avoid “falling into a two-zone war” with a focus on the south.
“We hope that Hezbollah will not bring destruction to Lebanon because if they launch an attack from there, the consequences will not be worse than in Lebanon,” he warned.
—With assistance from Iain Marlow, Ethan Bronner, Selcan Hacaoglu and Michael Nienaber
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