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US adviser heading to Israel as Jewish state warns it’s on the ‘brink’ of war with Hezbollah
A senior Biden administration adviser is traveling to Israel to help ease tensions with Hezbollah terrorists at the Lebanon border after the Jewish state warned that it was on the “brink” of a two-front war.
Amos Hochstein, a senior diplomatic adviser to the Biden administration, is expected in Israel on Monday as the US seeks to de-escalate the skirmishes along the northern border, an Israeli official told NBC News.
Since Hezbollah began its near-daily attacks against Israel on Oct. 8 as a show of solidarity with Hamas, the Biden administration has warned of the possibility of a two-front war that threatens to destabilize the Middle East.
The constant missile attacks between Hezbollah and the IDF, which has left tens of thousands to evacuate northern Israel and southern Lebanon, have intensified over the past week, with Israeli officials now warning that war might be inevitable.
“Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement on Sunday.
“Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians — until security along our border with Lebanon is restored,” Hagari added.
Tension between Hezbollah and Israel appeared to reach a boiling point last Tuesday after an Israeli airstrike by Hezbollah senior field commander Taleb Abdallah, along with two other terrorist operatives in the Lebanese village of Jouaiyya.
Abdallah was the most senior Hezbollah commander killed by the IDF’s airstrikes in Lebanon since Oct. 8.
The Iran-backed terror group then fired its largest missile barrage of the conflict at northern Israel, consisting of more than 100 rockets that caused several fires, according to the IDF.
Hezbollah claimed its attacks were aimed at an Israeli military factory and headquarters, in response to what it called an assassination in Jouaiyya.
The terror group has claimed multiple attacks against Israel since, including a missile strike that hit the IDF’s air traffic control base in Mount Meron on Saturday.
The IDF has also launched multiple airstrikes against Hezbollah in recent days, taking out terror facilities and several rocket-launching bases.
Attacks from the terror group have killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, according to the IDF.
The Israeli military estimates that it has killed more than 320 Hezbollah members since the conflict began.
With Post wires
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