The Biden administration is confident that an all-out war between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah will be avoided, as Israel considers its response to a rocket attack in the Israeli Golan Heights on Saturday that killed 12 Druze children.
John Kirby, the White House national security communications advisor, told reporters at a briefing on Monday that the threat of such a conflict has been “exaggerated.”
“We’ve all heard about this ‘all-out war’ scenario now at multiple points over the last 10 months. Those predictions were exaggerated then. Quite frankly, we think they’re exaggerated now,” Kirby said. “Nobody wants a broader war, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to avoid such an outcome.”
Saturday’s rocket attack on a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams near the Lebanese border was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since Oct. 7, killing 12 children and wounding more than 40 others.
Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack, although the United States and Israel have confirmed that Hezbollah launched the rocket from an area it controls.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a “tough” response, but there are widespread fears of escalation given that Hezbollah’s large and sophisticated rocket arsenal could potentially overwhelm Israel’s missile defense systems.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, mortars and other weapons into Israel on Oct. 8, claiming solidarity with Hamas. Since then, it has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, forcing the Jewish state to evacuate more than 80,000 people from communities along the border.
Kirby said that U.S. and Israeli officials have had conversations at “multiple levels” about how Israel should respond to the Hezbollah attack, which have reportedly included warnings that Israel should not strike Beirut.
Kirby added that the Biden administration is conducting diplomacy with “both sides” to de-escalate and reach a solution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes.
“Rather than diminishing our interest in a diplomatic solution around the Blue Line, I think it underscores for us how important those conversations are and need to be going forward, and we’re committed to having them,” Kirby said.
“We certainly don’t believe that, as horrific as this attack was over the weekend, that it needs to result in any kind of escalation or broader risk of a bigger war,” he said.
Asked if the Biden administration believes the United States could be drawn into a region-wide conflict, Kirby said that talk of that scenario was premature.
“You’re asking me to put the dang cart so far in front of the horse that it’s hard to see it,” he said.
