Israel says halting Hezbollah attacks is now a war goal as officials warn of a wider operation

AP: JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel announced Tuesday that halting Hezbollah's attacks in the north in order to allow its residents to return is now an official war goal, as the country considers a wider military operation that could ignite an all-out conflict.

Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to take heavier military action to halt the near-daily attacks, which began shortly after the outbreak of the nearly yearlong Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Israel has regularly launched airstrikes in response and has targeted and killed senior Hezbollah commanders. As recently as last month it appeared a full-blown war was imminent.

The tit-for-tat strikes have displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. Hezbollah has said it would halt the attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but those talks have repeatedly bogged down. The United States has pressed for restraint even as it has rushed military aid to Israel, warning its close ally that a wider war would not achieve its goals.

Israeli media have meanwhile reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering firing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and replacing him with a politician seen as far more hawkish. That would be the biggest leadership shakeup in Israel since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza and set off wider regional tensions.

The announcement on Lebanon came after Israel's security Cabinet met late into the night. It said the Cabinet has “updated the objectives of the war" to include safely returning the residents of the north to their homes. “Israel will continue to act to implement this objective,” it said.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has made several visits to Lebanon and Israel to try to ease tensions, met with Netanyahu on Monday.

Hochstein told the prime minister that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help achieve the goal of returning Israelis to their homes, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks.

Hochstein said Netanyahu risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon and said the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution in conjunction with a Gaza cease-fire or on its own, the official said.

Netanyahu told Hochstein that residents cannot return without “a fundamental change in the security situation in the north,” according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

It said that while Netanyahu “appreciates and respects" U.S. support, Israel will “do what is necessary to safeguard its security."

Defense Minister Gallant has meanwhile said the focus of the conflict is shifting from Gaza to Israel's north. He told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week that time is running out for an agreement with Hezbollah, saying “the trajectory is clear.”

Hezbollah has said that while it does not want a wider war it is prepared for one.

Raed Berro, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said Monday that the militant group “is ready for confrontation and has a lot in its pocket to deter the enemy and protect Lebanon in case Netanyahu thinks of expanding the war.”

The war in Gaza began when Hamas launched a surprise attack into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Militants are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after releasing most of the rest during a cease-fire last year.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters but says just over half were women and children. The Israeli bombardment and ground invasion has devastated large areas of the densely populated enclave and driven around 90% of its 2.3 million residents from their homes.

Iran supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other militant groups across the region, which have carried out strikes on Israeli and U.S. targets in solidarity with the Palestinians. A missile launched by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday set off air raid sirens in central Israel without causing casualties. Israel has hinted at a military response.

Israel and Iran traded fire directly for the first time in April, and Iran has threatened to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in its capital in July. The targeted killing was widely blamed on Israel, which has not said whether it was involved.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent most of this year trying to broker an agreement in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

President Joe Biden endorsed the framework of the agreement in May and the U.N. Security Council backed it days later. But since then, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands, and the talks appear to be at an impasse.