Israeli military carrying out ‘ground operations’ inside Lebanon, US says

Israeli forces began what the US referred to as “limited ground operations” inside Lebanon, the State Department said Monday, stopping short of calling it an invasion.

Meanwhile, the US military said it would be deploying a “few thousand” more troops to the Middle East as the Israeli army began carrying out ground operations inside Lebanon.

The additional troops will join the 40,000 already in the region, an increase of around 8,000 after the Pentagon increased the US force posture earlier this year.

The US has observed changes in Israel’s military posture along the border with Lebanon, officials said over the weekend, hours after Hezbollah announced its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

On Monday, US officials said Israel appeared ready to launch an invasion but did not know the exact details of the plans. Washington has been publicly and privately discouraging the Israelis from any military campaign that involved an incursion or invasion. But as has been the case since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Biden administration appears to have been rebuffed once again.

State Department Spokesman Matt Miller said the Israelis were informing the US about some of their operations. As for reported invasion or incursion plans, Miller said: “They have at this time told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. But we’re in continuous conversations with them about it.”

“We recognize that military pressure can enable diplomacy. That’s true,” Miller said. “It’s also true that it can lead to miscalculation and unintended consequences,” he added before suggesting that the US still believes diplomacy is the best way forward.

The Lebanese Armed Forces withdrew from bases on the southern border with Israel, security sources said.

Hezbollah said late Monday that it targeted and successfully struck movements of Israeli troops on the Lebanon-Israel border. No further details were provided in a statement released by the group.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that the increased US troop presence announced Monday will include additional fighter jet squadrons, including more F-15E Strike Eagles, F-16s, F-22s, and A-10s.

Singh said the new squadrons were initially planned to replace the existing fleets in the region, but they will now augment the others.

She said these forces were not being deployed to evacuate US citizens from the region. The State Department has been warning US citizens against traveling to Lebanon or Israel but has so far not ordered any evacuations.

As a result of the Nasrallah assassination and ongoing wars in the region, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced on Sunday that the US would further reinforce “defensive air-support capabilities” in the coming days. He also warned Iran against targeting US troops in the Middle East and ordered an increased readiness of additional US forces to deploy, “elevating preparedness to respond to various contingencies.”

Singh said Austin believed additional fighter jets were the best way for US forces in the region to have the necessary defense.