SecDef Lloyd Austin Tells Israel to ‘Pivot’ to ‘Diplomatic Pathway’ in Lebanon

 U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, that Israel needed to “pivot” to a “diplomatic pathway” in Lebanon, despite stunning Israeli advances against Hezbollah.

The statement came after Israel acknowledged that two United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) “peacekeeping” soldiers had been injured by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fire in southern Lebanon. The IDF said it had been firing on Hezbollah terrorists near a UNIFIL position. Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the United Nations to withdraw UNIFIL troops from Lebanon, as Hezbollah was using them as “human shields.”

Hezbollah started the conflict on October 8, 2023, when it began firing on Israeli communities in solidarity with Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that carried out the brutal October 7 terror attack in Israel. Israel fired back, while evacuating over 60,000 residents from 74 Jewish and Arab towns near its northern border.

The abandoned town of Shlomi, Israel, near the Lebanese border, evacuated since October due to shelling by Iran-backed Hezbollah. APril 15, 2024 (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)

For nearly a year, Israel said that it was open to a diplomatic solution in which Hezbollah withdrew from the Lebanese border, and the border region was disarmed, as required by United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Biden-Harris administration sent special envoy Amos Hochstein back and forth in an attempt to forge an agreement. But Hezbollah refused to abide by the United Nations requirements and insisted Israel withdraw from its own border.

Since the Israeli security cabinet voted on September 17 to make returning the residents of the north to their homes a key war goal (along with dismantling Hamas and returning the hostages), Israel has made unexpected advances in Lebanon against a once-formidable foe, killing Hezbollah’s leaders, disrupting its communications, and removing it from one border position after another, with relatively few losses. Israel achieved this in defiance of calls by the Biden-Harris administration for a ceasefire in Lebanon, which would have left Hezbollah in place and intact.

It is unlikely Israel will listen to Austin, though there are rumors that Israel would accept a ceasefire in Lebanon in exchange for the release of all 101 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. (Hezbollah once said it would offer Israel a ceasefire if it stopped fighting in Gaza, without the hostages.) Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran.