A week before Israel launched a series of deadly attacks on Lebanon, killing nearly 500 people in a single day, the United States sent a diplomat to Israel to promote de-escalation.
Amos Hochstein, US President Joe Biden’s envoy, arrived in the region on September 16, aiming to prevent the daily exchanges of fire at the Israel-Lebanon border between Hezbollah and Israeli forces from escalating into full-scale war.
However, shortly after Hochstein’s arrival, booby-trapped communication devices linked to Hezbollah were detonated across Lebanon, killing and injuring thousands in an attack widely attributed to Israel. More assaults followed in the days after.
Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, noted that the timing of Hochstein’s visit and the subsequent Israeli strikes on Lebanon underscores a recurring pattern where Israeli leaders disregard the Biden administration’s warnings.
“This has been happening for the last 12 months. Every warning from the administration has been ignored by Israel, repeatedly and emphatically, without any consequence,” Elgindy told Al Jazeera.
On Friday, Israel bombed a building in southern Beirut, killing a senior Hezbollah commander and dozens of others, including children. Cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon intensified further.
Then, on Monday, Israel unleashed widespread attacks across Lebanon, killing at least 492 people, including many women and children, marking one of the deadliest days in the country’s history.
Experts, including Elgindy, argue that the United States’ unconditional support for Israel, coupled with its failure to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, has encouraged Israel to wage an all-out war in Lebanon, pushing the region to the brink of disaster.
“It’s a catastrophic failure of policy,” Elgindy stated. “Every aspect of the administration’s approach — from the humanitarian to the diplomatic, legal, moral, and political — has failed in every conceivable way.”
