Pentagon chief voices concern over Israel-Lebanon escalation

WASHINGTON: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin voiced fresh concern on Friday over escalation between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah during his sixth call with his Israeli counterpart in less than a week, and urged a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

Austin’s focus on diplomacy in his statement came after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke of a new phase of war.

Israel announced on Friday it killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut.

The strike followed two days of attacks on the group in which its members’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. Those attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

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The Pentagon said in a statement that Austin reiterated to Gallant “his concern over the current escalation of exchanges between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.”

That language was identical to a statement from Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, on Thursday after another call between Austin and Gallant.

“The secretary strongly reemphasized the importance of reaching a diplomatic resolution that enables residents to return safely to their homes on both sides of the border,” the Pentagon said after Friday’s call.

Gallant earlier on Friday wrote on social media platform X: “The sequence of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began rocketing Israel in October in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel and Hamas have been at war.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday he was not aware of any Israeli notification to the United States before the Beirut strike, adding Americans were strongly urged not to travel to Lebanon and to leave if they were already there.

However he added, “War is not inevitable … and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to try to prevent it.”