Current:Home > reviewsUS national security adviser says a negotiated outcome is the best way to end Lebanon-Israel tension -WealthSpot
US national security adviser says a negotiated outcome is the best way to end Lebanon-Israel tension
View
Date:2025-04-17 13:39:18
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that he has discussed with Israeli officials the volatile situation along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that a “negotiated outcome” is the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel.
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Sullivan said that Washington won’t tolerate threats by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which has been attacking Israeli military posts along the border since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7.
Over the past two months, Israel has evacuated more than 20,000 of its citizens from towns and villages along the border with Lebanon, some of whom have expressed concerns that they have no plans to return home as long as Hezbollah fighters are deployed on the Lebanese side of the border.
“We need to send a clear message that we will not tolerate the kinds of threats and terrorist activity that we have seen from Hezbollah and from the territory of Lebanon,” Sullivan told reporters in Jerusalem.
“The best way to do this is to come up with a negotiated outcome,” Sullivan said, adding that such an outcome will ensure that “those Israeli citizens in those communities up on the northern border can know that they are not going to be subject to an attack that will take their lives or destroy their communities.”
Sullivan said: “That threat can be dealt with through diplomacy and does not require the launching of a new war.” Still, the U.S. official said that such a step requires not just diplomacy, but deterrence as well.
Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies that fought a war in the summer of 2006. Israel considers the Iran-backed Shiite militant group its most serious immediate threat, estimating that Hezbollah has around 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
Since the end of the 34-day war in 2006, thousands of U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops were deployed along the border. The border had been mostly quiet over the years apart from sporadic violations, but it all changed since the Israel-Hamas war started.
Since Oct. 8, Hezbollah fighters have carried out scores of attacks — mostly targeting Israeli military posts along the border. Israeli artillery and warplanes have also been attacking areas on the Lebanese side of the border.
On Friday, an Israeli drone dropped leaflets on a border village, warning its residents that Hezbollah is endangering their lives by using the area to launch attacks against Israel.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that an Israeli drone struck a house Friday in the southern village of Yarin, wounding several people. It gave no further details.
On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Markaba killed a Hezbollah fighter, raising to 101 the total number of the group’s members who have been killed since the latest round of fighting began.
Hezbollah official Ali Daamoush was defiant in his Friday prayers sermon, vowing that the group won’t stop attacks along the border and also has no plans to move away from the frontier.
“The Israeli-American brutality can only be stopped by the resistance that can inflict losses on the enemy,” Daamoush said. “Intimidation and threats will not change the stance of the resistance and its presence on every inch of the south” of Lebanon.
veryGood! (5281)
Related
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- Many workers barely recall signing noncompetes, until they try to change jobs
- As prices soar, border officials are seeing a spike in egg smuggling from Mexico
- The Trump Organization has been ordered to pay $1.61 million for tax fraud
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- See How Gwyneth Paltrow Wished Ex Chris Martin a Happy Father’s Day
- At buzzy health care business conference, investors fear the bubble will burst
- Twitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- Inside Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor's Private Family Life With Their Kids
Ranking
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- As prices soar, border officials are seeing a spike in egg smuggling from Mexico
- Protein-Filled, With a Low Carbon Footprint, Insects Creep Up on the Human Diet
- New Climate Research From a Year-Long Arctic Expedition Raises an Ozone Alarm in the High North
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Unsolved Mysteries: How Kayla Unbehaun's Abduction Case Ended With Her Mother's Arrest
- Coal-Fired Power Plants Hit a Milestone in Reduced Operation
- Maryland, Virginia Lawmakers Spearhead Drive to Make the Chesapeake Bay a National Recreation Area
Recommendation
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
New York orders Trump companies to pay $1.6M for tax fraud
A robot was scheduled to argue in court, then came the jail threats
Looking for Amazon alternatives for ethical shopping? Here are some ideas
2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
How to deal with your insurance company if a hurricane damages your home
Two Indicators: The 2% inflation target
UN Report: Despite Falling Energy Demand, Governments Set on Increasing Fossil Fuel Production