WASHINGTON – The United States said it does not want to see further escalation between Israel and Hezbollah after the Lebanese militant group blamed Israel for a series of deadly coordinated explosions via mobile pagers.
But the administration of US President Joe Biden, which remains Israel's biggest military and diplomatic backer, also sought on Tuesday to downplay its ability to manipulate tensions between the two countries.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday afternoon that Washington was not involved in the apparent attack and was not notified in advance of it.
“I will say that our general policy remains consistent, which is that we want to see a diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. We are always concerned about any kind of event that could lead to further escalation,” Miller said.
But when asked whether the Biden administration’s leverage — the United States provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military aid annually as well as strong diplomatic support — could be used to prevent a wider war, Miller said it was “not just a question for the United States.”
“Of course, this is a question directed first to Israel. It is a question directed to Hezbollah, but it is a question directed to all the other countries in the region about what kind of region they want to live in,” he said.
“Therefore, the United States will continue to press for a diplomatic solution.”
Miller's remarks come as human rights advocates have urged the Biden administration to pressure Israel to end its war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians since early October and devastated the Palestinian coastal enclave.
Analysts have repeatedly accused Washington of acting as both “arsonist and firefighter” by consistently refusing to use US military aid to its “powerful” ally despite the risks that a prolonged Gaza war could lead to a wider regional escalation.
Hezbollah, which has been exchanging fire across the border with Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, accused Israel of firing at the pagers on Tuesday and vowed it would receive “just punishment.”
The Israeli army has not commented on the explosions yet.
Lebanon's health minister said at least nine people were killed, including an eight-year-old girl, when pagers exploded across Lebanon. About 2,750 people were injured, 200 of them critically.
Asked about the nature of the apparently random explosions, Miller of the US State Department declined to comment directly on what happened.
However, he said the US position in general is that “no country or organization should target civilians.”
“Mud in their faces”
The explosions came as the Biden administration continues to say it is pushing to broker a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian faction that rules the enclave.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the Middle East for the latest meeting with mediators.
Al Jazeera's Kimberly Halkett reports from Washington DC: “President Biden doesn't have much time, and the US elections are less than 60 days away.”
“So if Israel is actually responsible for (the explosions in Lebanon), that is certainly frustrating for the United States.”
The deadly explosions come less than a day after White House adviser Amos Hochstein met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press for de-escalation along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
Following the meeting, Netanyahu's office issued a defiant statement saying that Israelis would not be able to return to evacuated areas along the Lebanese border “without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north.”
Rami Khoury, a senior fellow at the American University of Beirut, said the Israeli response to the US appeal was “natural.”
“The Israelis not only routinely ignore what the Americans tell them, they throw mud in their faces,” Khoury told Al Jazeera.
“The Americans’ capabilities in the field of diplomatic work are very limited. They focus more on military support for Israel and sanctions against Israel’s enemies.”
“American diplomatic efforts are not taken seriously by most people in the region” because of unconditional support for Israel, Khoury added.
“The United States should be a major diplomatic player, but it stands clearly with Israel, and everything it does must be consistent with Israel's priorities,” he said.
