Biden dissuaded Netanyahu from attacking Hezbollah because of the risk of escalation: #WSJ

US President Joe Biden convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch a preemptive strike against the forces of the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon a few days after the high-profile attack by Hamas militants, the Wall Street Journal newspaper writes, citing unnamed American officials.

According to the newspaper's material, Israel had intelligence that Hezbollah formations were preparing to cross the border with Israel to carry out attacks on several fronts at once. Israeli military aircraft were in the air and were waiting for the order to launch strikes, but Biden Netanyahu's call on October 11 changed the situation. It doesn't matter how the war in Gaza ends: Israel has already lost

In particular, as the newspaper notes, the United States considered the intelligence of the Israeli side unreliable. In a conversation, the details of which were not disclosed, the White House host suggested that Netanyahu "think about the consequences" of a strike on Lebanon, which "threatened to escalate into a larger regional war."

As follows from the publication, Israel understood that it would not be able to take such a step alone, and requested support from Washington. Netanyahu's cabinet believed that a major war in the Middle East was inevitable, and the task was to strike first. This point of view was most actively promoted by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Biden had to convince his colleague otherwise, insisting that a large-scale war was "possible to prevent."

After lengthy internal discussions following Biden's phone call, Netanyahu's cabinet rejected the idea of striking Hezbollah forces.Israel will only stop the all-Islamic ultimatum to the West