Israel asks Beirut to keep Hezbollah out of any new war with Iran; Netanyahu presses Trump while Trump says there is “no rush”

Israel has asked the Lebanese government to take measures so that Hezbollah does not open a new front if war with Iran resumes. The request reached Beirut through American mediators, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan revealed on the evening of Monday, November 2. Jerusalem is asking, among other things, for the Lebanese army to redeploy and set up roadblocks in areas where members of the Shiite organisation live, i24NEWS writes.

An Israeli security source told Kan that Israel warned Beirut that any Hezbollah participation in a new conflict with Iran, especially under pressure from Tehran, will lead to a resumption of fighting in Lebanon. The warning comes despite direct talks between the two countries in recent months. Meanwhile, Israel’s air force has stepped up for three weeks its strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, mainly in open areas where the Lebanese army has not yet deployed.

Tyre, Sidon and Nabatieh in the scenarios

The newspaper Maariv wrote that the Israeli army is preparing for a possible seizure of three major southern Lebanese cities, Tyre, Sidon and Nabatieh, if war with Iran resumes and Hezbollah joins it. The scenarios it describes include heavier strikes on much of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a naval blockade of the ports of Beirut and Tripoli and attacks on coastal cities, and a possible ground advance afterwards. Israeli assessments predict that Tehran may activate several fronts at once.

In Beirut the reports caused concern. “We cannot rule out Israel launching a new war on Lebanon, especially if Hezbollah does not keep its promise, as it has done in the past, and enters the conflict again,” Lebanese ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai stressed at Sunday’s liturgy that preventing Lebanon’s involvement in a new war is now a major national responsibility and that decisions on war and peace belong to the state. Israeli strikes meanwhile continue: Israeli fighters hit Qusayr with two missiles while Social Affairs Minister Hanine Sayed was speaking at an inauguration ceremony in Froun.

Netanyahu presses, Trump is in no hurry

At the same time Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing Donald Trump for a new wave of strikes on Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections, the Associated Press writes, citing two regional officials and a third person familiar with the matter. One of the officials said the Israeli prime minister is working with senior US administration officials to persuade Trump to launch a short but extensive air campaign. Netanyahu pushed for strikes in the weekend phone call too, without the US president committing. The AP notes that a return to full-scale war could help Netanyahu form an emergency government, since his bloc lost its majority in last week’s elections. Other US allies in the region warn that new strikes would destabilise the region and could push the Houthis into more attacks on Saudi Arabia and Red Sea shipping.

Trump expressed doubts about whether he will proceed with new strikes. Asked by reporters on Monday whether he is considering striking Iran after the elections, he answered “no”. In an Axios interview he said: “We’ll do something either way, but there’s no rush.” He added that the Iranians show “less hurry than one would expect”, but “want a deal more than ever”. An Israeli source described the leaders’ call to Axios as “tough”, while a US source called it “direct”. Qatari mediators held two rounds of talks with Iranian officials last week, aiming at a framework in which Iran would stop attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and the US would lift its blockade of Iranian ports. The US strikes on Qeshm island on the eve of the elections appear, according to the AP, to have been limited and not a return to full hostilities.