Senior US official hints Washington backs Israeli escalation in Lebanon

A senior U.S. official on Monday hinted that the Trump administration would support an escalation in Israeli military action in retaliation to "Hezbollah's violations of the ceasefire," U.S. news portal Axios said.

"Hezbollah has ignored repeated requests to stop firing at Israel, including a recent ultimatum. Israel will never be expected to passively absorb attacks on its forces and civilians. This is not the Biden Administration," the official told Axios.

The U.S. official said that since April 17, Hezbollah has fired over a thousand drones and over 700 rockets to try and derail ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. "The status quo is untenable", the U.S. official said.

The U.S. official stressed that Hezbollah is entirely responsible for the current situation. "It broke the ceasefire on March 2 and is now intent on denying the Lebanese people a path to peace and reconstruction," the official added.

According to the U.S. official Hezbollah is concerned about the direct negotiations between the Lebanese government and Israel with the support of the U.S. and sees it "as an existential threat."

"A successful ceasefire led by the Government of Lebanon would strip Hezbollah of their power and their narrative," the U.S. official added.

Shortly afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had instructed the army to escalate attacks against Hezbollah in a bid to "crush" the group in light of its repeated drone attacks on Israeli troops occupying south Lebanon and on north Israel areas near the border.