Small-scale operations or “border movements” into Lebanon to take out Hezbollah positions right on the border have begun or are about to, according to two U.S. officials.
Israel does not yet appear to have fully decided whether to launch a ground operation but is prepared for one, the officials said. If a ground operation happens, its scope will likely be limited, sources said. The key is fulfilling the promise to Israelis that the tens of thousands displaced from northern Israel will be able to go home. To do that, decapitating Hezbollah is not enough, the officials said.
U.S. officials received a “few minutes notice” at best, before Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination on Friday, the officials said.
In response to reports that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin blew up when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed him about Nasrallah, the officials said, “We do bear a lot of risks” in the region, and their people were not given a lot of notice to prepare for possible hostile responses to the assassination, which did not please U.S. officials.
One of the officials noted that there is tolerance right now and that U.S. “interests in the region could be badly harmed” if U.S. officials lose their contacts with the Israelis.
The sources said Nasrallah, until the very end, had demanded a Hezbollah ceasefire be tied to a Gaza cease-fire.
Diplomacy remains the only viable long-term solution, even if a military campaign sets the stage for it, officials said.
–ABC News’ Matt Gutman
