JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant advised US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday (Sep 16) that the window was closing for a diplomatic resolution 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 operating out,” Gallant advised Austin in a telephone name, based on a press release 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 evident,” 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 hundreds on either side of the border to depart their houses.
On Monday, Israeli media reported that the pinnacle of the military’s northern command had really helpful a fast border operation to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Whereas the struggle in Gaza has been Israel’s important 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 america and Iran.