President Biden convinced Netanyahu to abort Israeli preemptive strike on Hezbollah with just MOMENTS to spare, in effort to prevent all-out Middle East war based on ‘unreliable’ intel days after October 7 attacks
- President Biden had a 45-minute phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu one day after the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas
- Biden urged Netanyahu to refrain from launching attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon
- This came amid ongoing efforts from within the White House to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East
President Biden had a 45-minute phone call with Netanyahu to convince him to refrain from launching attacks on Hezbollah, days after the October 7 terror attack on Israel by Hamas.
According to sources familiar with the call, Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off Israel's mission to attack Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
The pre-emptive strike was said to take place in the days after Hamas launched a terror attack on the Supernova music festival in Israel.
Israeli warplanes were in the air and ready to go when Biden spoke with Netanyahu on October 11.
Biden implored the prime minister to consider the consequences of the drastic action – and his persuasion worked because the attack did not go ahead.
President Biden had a 45-minute phone call with Netanyahu to convince him to refrain from launching attacks on Hezbollah, days after the October 7 terror attack on Israel by Hamas
According to sources familiar with the call, Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off Israel's mission to attack Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
The call, which had gone unreported until now, set a pattern for U.S. efforts to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East.
The Biden administration has been relentlessly trying to prevent an expansion of the ongoing war along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
Israeli forces engage in a daily barrage of war with fighters from the Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Palestinian militants along the border.
The White House's efforts to de-escalate the conflict in October included sending two aircraft carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean, followed by a nuclear submarine.
Biden and his administration received a warning about Israel's plan to launch a pre-emptive strike on the morning of October 11 – when Israeli forces urgently notified the White House that they believed Hezbollah was going to attack.
US officials said Israel was pleading for US support.
According to the Wall Street JournalBiden's top intelligence, military and national security advisers – including CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs CQ Brown – later arrived who morning for a meeting. The Director's committee meeting to discuss Israel's proposed plans determined that U.S. intelligence was inconsistent with Israel's.”
Amos Hochstein has led White House efforts to defuse tensions at the Israeli-Lebanese border.
The American-Israeli businessman, diplomat and lobbyist has bounced between Washington, Beirut and Jerusalem to try to end the fighting diplomatically.
The French government has been involved in peace efforts, pushing Lebanon to adhere to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls on Hezbollah to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon and move at least 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.
The Biden administration has been relentlessly trying to prevent an expansion of the ongoing war along Israel's northern border with Lebanon
Lebanese militias have carried out at least 200 attacks on Israel, killing 10, including seven soldiers.
Israel responded with nearly 1,000 attacks in southern Lebanon, killing more than 120 Hezbollah soldiers and 10 Lebanese civilians, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Israel has continued to threaten Hezbollah with more intense attacks on Lebanon if its soldiers do not withdraw.
Five days ago it was reported that Israel planned to invade Lebanon to push Hezbollah back from its northern border, according to reports, amid a barrage of rocket attacks since the outbreak of war in Gaza. It is feared that the terrorist group is 'worse than Hamas'. '.
After weeks of exchanging cross-border fire, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are reportedly keen to launch a ground offensive in southern Lebanon, aiming to push the terror group north beyond the Litani River.
Military and government officials in Israel have said they are determined to prevent a repeat of the October 7 invasion from Gaza, with warnings that the scale of a Hezbollah incursion could be even deadlier than the massacre of 1,200 people.