An Israeli government spokesperson has told Newsweek that a full-scale war with Hezbollah would mean "ruin" for the militant group and Lebanon, as President Joe Biden's administration scrambles to prevent escalation.
Eylon Levy warned in a Jerusalem Press Club briefing on Monday morning that Hezbollah "is dragging Lebanon now into a totally unnecessary war" along its shared border with Israel, which since Hamas' October 7 infiltration attack has played host to constant deadly skirmishes between the Iranian-aligned militants and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
"The war that Hamas began, it is risking dragging Lebanon into the sort of ruin that the people of Lebanon do not deserve, that we do not deserve," Levy said.
Israeli officials have repeatedly warned they will no longer tolerate a Hezbollah presence along the country's northern border. Hezbollah, a powerful Shi'ite militia and political movement closely allied with Iran and led by Hassan Nasrallah, controls southern Lebanon and is widely considered a "state within a state."
Israeli leaders are demanding the group adhere to the 2006 United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1701 prohibiting a Hezbollah presence south of the Litani River, some 18 miles from the Israeli border. The measure was agreed as part of the effort to end the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
"Either Hezbollah backs away or we will push it away," Levy said on Monday. "The situation in the north is intolerable now, with 80,000 Israelis who have been displaced from their homes, homes that Hezbollah is shelling relentlessly."
"We're now at a fork for the roads," Levy added. "There is now a very narrow window of diplomatic opportunity for the world to secure the enforcement of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and push Hezbollah away from the border.
"Hezbollah's systematic aggression has rendered that Security Council resolution null and void, and we need to see Hezbollah pushed away from the border. Because after October 7, we know that every day that terror organizations sit along our borders is October 6, and we cannot take the risk of such atrocities repeating themselves on Israel's northern border."
Newsweek has contacted a Hezbollah spokesperson via WhatsApp to request comment.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in Israel on Monday as part of his latest Middle Eastern tour intended to contain Israel's ongoing offensive into the Gaza Strip and prevent a regional conflagration with Iran.
"It's not in the interest of any country in the region, it's not in the interest of any country in the world to see this conflict escalated any further than it already is," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists last week.
U.S. and Israeli officials have been discussing Hezbollah's presence along the northern border, and—according to The Wall Street Journal—Biden himself had to talk Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of a pre-emptive strike on the group shortly after the Hamas October 7 attack.
A National Security Council spokesperson told Newsweek last month that Biden "has made clear that we do not support this conflict expanding into Lebanon. From the beginning, his message to any actor seeking to exploit the situation has been clear: don't."
The U.S. has also reportedly chastised Israel for repeatedly striking personnel and positions of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which are loyal to the central government in Beirut, a recipient of American funding, and considered by Washington, D.C., as key counterweights to Hezbollah power in Lebanon.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit blamed Hezbollah for putting the LAF in the line of fire, telling Newsweek the group has carried out many of its cross-border attacks "from areas near U.N. positions and Lebanese Armed Forces compounds."
"This demonstrates Hezbollah's blatant abuse of the international and national institutions responsible for security in southern Lebanon," the unit added. "The IDF strikes military targets while using means to mitigate harm to civilians as much as possible and aims to strike only military targets.
"While Hezbollah continues to violate UNSCR 1701, the IDF will continue to defend Israel's northern border from any threat."
A drone strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut last week killed a senior Hamas leader and hinted at Israel's willingness to expand the war. The killing of Saleh al-Arouri was the first suspected Israeli assassination in Lebanon since 2013. Nasrallah said Hezbollah "will not be silent" following the killing.
On Monday, Reuters reported that an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit declined to comment on the report when contacted by Newsweek.
The public rhetoric from Israeli officials, too, remains combative.
"If Hezbollah drags us into a full-scale war—we do not want to fight a war on two fronts—we will hold the Lebanese state accountable, and the consequences will be severe," Levy said on January 2.
"We are hopeful there is still time for a diplomatic window to push Hezbollah away," Levy said, an agreement that would "obviate the need for military force in order to push away this Iranian-backed proxy that is a permanent threat of another October 7 on a much larger scale on the Lebanese border."
Still, Levy struck a gloomy tone.
"Our confidence in diplomatic solutions is unfortunately weak, and that is a lesson born by experience," he said. "We are under no illusions. We are preparing for all scenarios and repeat the warning that either Hezbollah backs off, preferably as part of a diplomatic solution, or we will push it away."
Update 1/8/24, 10:05 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include additional comment from the IDF and a new visual.
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