The U.S. military is not providing intelligence support to Israel for its operations in Lebanon, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
“No. No support,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in response to a question about whether the United States was helping Israel in its fight against Hezbollah, including with intelligence, Reuters reported.
“When it comes to Lebanon, the U.S. military has no involvement in Israel’s operations,” said Singh.
Singh said the United States government was making diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation between Israel and Hezbollah, repeating comments by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday.
“You’re seeing a full-court press here from the United States government and this administration. We want to see a diplomatic solution, and we want to see it urgently,” said Singh.
Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar joined the United States in a joint call on Wednesday night for an “immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement.”
The U.K.'s Sky News reported on Thursday that senior U.S. officials said the ceasefire would be implemented “within hours.” The report sparked anger among Israeli coalition members, including within the ruling Likud Party, who said Israel wouldn’t stop until Hezbollah was dismantled.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who departed to the United States on Wednesday night to address the U.N. General Assembly, has not yet weighed in on the issue.
Israel has ramped up its airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon in recent days. “Over the past three days we have struck more than 2,000 terrorist targets in Lebanon, including several hundred today,” Israel Defense Forces military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told the press on Wednesday.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday that the military was preparing a possible ground operation in Lebanon.
“You can hear the planes above us, we are attacking all day,” he told troops in northern Israel. “Both to prepare the area for the possibility of your entry [into Lebanon], and also to continue harming Hezbollah.”
