JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant informed US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday (Sep 16) that the window was closing for a diplomatic answer to the standoff with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah motion in southern Lebanon.
Gallant’s remarks got here because the White Home Particular envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel to debate the disaster on the northern border the place Israeli troops have been exchanging missile fireplace with Hezbollah forces for months.
“The likelihood for an agreed framework within the northern enviornment is working out,” Gallant informed Austin in a telephone name, in response to an announcement from his workplace.
So long as Hezbollah continued to tie itself to the Palestinian motion Hamas in Gaza, the place Israeli forces have been engaged for nearly a yr, “the trajectory is obvious,” he mentioned.
The go to by Hochstein, who is because of meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comes amid efforts to discover a diplomatic path out of the disaster, which has pressured tens of 1000’s on each side of the border to go away their houses.
On Monday, Israeli media reported that the top of the military’s northern command had really helpful a speedy border operation to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Whereas the battle in Gaza has been Israel’s major focus because the assault by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct 7 final yr, the precarious state of affairs within the north has fuelled fears of a regional battle that might drag in the USA and Iran.
