BIDEN'S PLAN TO STOP THE WAR IN GAZA IS A FLOP, AND THE SAME WILL BE TRUE FOR ANY US PLAN TO STOP THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HEZBOLLAH ..... AND AS ALWAYS, ISRAEL IS THE SIDE THAT'S BEING PRESSURED

US official: We’re against Israeli ground op in Lebanon, want diplomatic ‘off-ramp’

Official says he can’t recall ‘a period in which an escalation or intensification led to a fundamental deescalation,’ expressing disagreement with intensified strikes by Israel

 

The Times of Israel

Sep 23, 2024

 

 

Damaged cars and building at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, September 21, 2024.

The United States is presenting “concrete” ideas to ease the crisis in Lebanon, a US official said Monday, while voicing opposition to any Israeli ground invasion to target Hezbollah.

“We’ve got some concrete ideas we’re going to be discussing with allies and partners this week to try to figure out the way forward on this,” the senior US official said as world leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the United States wanted to find an “off-ramp that will first and foremost prevent further escalation in the fighting.”

He voiced hope that the US proposals would “reduce tensions and will segue into a diplomatic process that allows communities on both sides of the border — on both sides of the Blue Line — to safely return home in the near future.”

The official declined to describe the concrete ideas in detail but said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior US officials would be discussing them during his meetings at the General Assembly.

“It’s an evolution of those discussions on which we’re trying to base some practical, concrete steps that will have good chances of reducing tensions and actually getting some traction,” the official said.

The official pushed back on the notion that the intensification of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah could force it to agree to a diplomatic solution, saying President Joe Biden’s administration was focused on “reducing tensions … and breaking the cycle of strike-counterstrike.”

“I can’t recall, at least in recent memory, a period in which an escalation or intensification led to a fundamental deescalation and led to profound stabilization of the situation,” the official said.

Asked if that is a disagreement with the Israeli stance, the US official nodded.

The official renewed opposition by the United States to a ground invasion by Israel, which has been pounding sites in Lebanon associated with the Shiite terror movement Hezbollah, which began attacking northern Israeli communities and military posts after fellow Iranian ally Hamas launched the October 7 attack from the Gaza Strip.

“I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously,” he said.

“We obviously do not believe that a ground invasion of Lebanon is going to contribute to reducing tensions in the region, to preventing an escalatory spiral of violence, and that’s in part why we are so focused on utilizing this week to explore these ideas and see if we can develop this off-ramp,” he said.