‘Even if Israel swears that it only wants to push Hezbollah away from the border, and doesn’t want to destroy Beirut, the other side probably won’t believe it,’ one U.S. official said at a recent meeting with Israeli defense officials
The United States has alerted Israel that, based on its intelligence assessments, an Israeli attempt to conduct a limited ground maneuver in South Lebanon is likely to spark an all-out with Hezbollah, which would also be joined by Iran – even if Israel officially declares that it isn’t interested in that.