Antony Blinken spelled out the paradox when he spoke in Washington on Tuesday. Despite the rapidly escalating rhetoric, and the clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border, the US secretary of state insisted: “I don’t think any of the potential belligerents actually want to see a war or conflict spread. I don’t believe Israel does. I don’t believe Hezbollah does. Lebanon certainly doesn’t because it would suffer the most. I don’t believe that Iran does. And yet you have momentum potentially in that direction.”
This week, the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, said a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon, and generals said their plans for an offensive into Lebanon were signed off. Hezbollah published drone footage of Israeli sites including key infrastructure in Haifa, and its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned of a war “without rules or ceilings”.
