John Kirby says U.S. working to prevent 'all-out war' in Middle East amid rising tensions

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News

September 22, 2024, 1:41 PM


Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said Sunday that the Biden administration is doing “everything we can to try to prevent this from becoming an all-out war there with Hezbollah across that Lebanese border.”

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah traded fire earlier Sunday morning, with an Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson saying that Hezbollah launched 150 rockets toward Israel, reaching deeper into the country than many previous strikes. In response, the IDF said it was striking “Hezbollah terrorist targets” in Lebanon. The IDF struck 400 targets on Saturday and said that the attacks will only intensify.

The fresh strikes come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to "take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes" near the Lebanese border in the north of the country.

Asked by ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos if escalation in the region is inevitable, Kirby said the White House believes a "diplomatic solution" is still possible.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/john-kirby-us-diplomatic-efforts-continue-middle-east/story?id=113901048

[Clouds Passing]

1. I hope reason prevails with everyone.

[AloeVera]

2. The push for a diplomatic solution worked so well in Gaza.

Has he not heard that Netanyahu has already threatened to "re-make the Middle East"?

That war-monger for a Greater Israel at any cost will not be stopped with words or a bear hug.

Reign him in NOW.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

4. How about reining in Hizbollah?

If Hizbollah stops firing rockets and missiles into Israel, then Israel will stop striking Hizbollah.

This isn't all on Nuttyyahoo.

[AloeVera]

11. It's a catch-22 currently, an impossible situation.

Hezbollah won't stop firing rockets until Israel stops the war on Gaza, AND until Israel stops attacking it; and Israel won't stop the war on Gaza AND won't stop attacking Hezbollah until it stops the rockets.

So you have the conditions for a catch-22 and a really nasty war.

You know that there is no one to rein in Hezbollah. Lebanon is powerless and Iran is not within our control. To rely on Iran to do anything re Hezbollah is akin to just letting the war happen.

To break the catch-22, the keystone is Gaza. It's obvious, but seems impossible too. That's what I mean by reining in Netanyahu.

Israel must be made to agree to a ceasefire. It's the morally and geopolitically right thing to do in all respects. We have the leverage. Diplomacy is a cop-out and will fail again - there is too much at stake to continue wasting time.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

13. You say Israel must agree to a cease fire, but why only Israel?

Shouldn't HAMAs, Hizbollah agree to a cease fire?
And what about Iran, they are, after all, the main financer and weapons supplier to most of the terrorist orgs. in the ME?
How about they stop backing these terrorists and make peace with Israel?
My point is that this isn't all Israel, not by a long shot, Israel could agree to a cease fire tomorrow, but what's to say that the other actors in this drama will abide by that cease fire?
And what's to say that Iran will stop supplying these actors?

[AloeVera]

15. Lack of certainty shouldn't mean let's just continue or start new wars.

Of course there are no guarantees. But Hezbollah would be as stupid as Hamas - who we are told keep hiding among civilians they surely should know by now won't protect them - to keep firing at Israel after a ceasefire. Which, I suppose is possible. But the retaliation would be swift and final. No more rockets.

Yes, they should all agree to a ceasefire. Offer one and see. It's always been in Israel's court.

When it comes to Iran, Israel does not have clean hands either. They've both been waging proxy wars in one way or another. All those issues are not going away any time soon. The thing now is to prevent a hot war that will cost the whole region and worse.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

16. This sentence I can agree with:

The thing now is to prevent a hot war that will cost the whole region and worse.

Let's hope that some cooler heads, on all sides, prevail before this turns into a full blown regional war.
And on that note, I'm going to climb into my sleeper and get some rest.
Have a great week.
Peace out
Dan.

[AloeVera]

17. We can always find something to agree on...

For sure!

Me too. Catching zzzz s and getting off DU for a while and take care of myself. I'm not cut out for the abuse I get sometimes. Not from you. I thank you for that.

Have a great week too. Peace out.
Julie

[Happy Hoosier]

19. Israel cannot and will not agree unilaterally to a cease-fire.

I think you know that.

[AloeVera]

20. So tired of the pretense Hamas/Hezb didn't want a ceasefire.

Of course they do. They've been saying that for nearly a year. Even if you don't believe their words, logic should tell you that further destruction of their capabilities is not in their best interest.

All evidence points to sabotage by Israel at every point a deal was near. It eventually admitted it will not stop the war until Hamas is crushed. What it means by that is - until Gaza is free of a large majority of Palestinians.

Now Israel has added a new war goal, which means the destruction of Lebanese towns and villages too. At the very least.

If Israel is not made to stop, it will continue on its expansionist, murderous rampage. Consequences could be unspeakable.

Don't know about you, but I don't think that's a good thing.

[Happy Hoosier]

21. And I so tired of this claim.

I think both Israel and Hamas/Hezbollah have sabotaged deals at one point or another, But key to both Hamas an Hezbollah is they want official sanction to plan their next assault in peace.

I'd counter with your claim that is Hamas and Hezbollah are not made to stop, they will plan their next murderous attack. and execute it to horror and destruction.

Don't know about you, but I don't think that's a good thing either.

IMO, the only way out of this is an internatio0nally imposed peace on both parties, but I don't know of anyone who wants to actually do it.

[AloeVera]

22. You misunderstood, I wasn't clear.

Both parties need to stop their murderousness, whether currently being carried out or planned for the future.

IMO, the only way out of this is an internatio0nally imposed peace on both parties, but I don't know of anyone who wants to actually do it.

That's what I mean by an imposed ceasefire!

That IS the problem - those with the power don't want to step up and those that do have no power.

There is a huge red-white-and-blue star-spangled Elephant in the Room, while the ME - at the very least - goes to hell in a handbasket.

Because U.S. electoral politics and a TOS that may not allow criticism of the Administration's foreign policy.

And if I am not allowed to say this, then this is not the place for me to express my views - so be it.

[Richard D]

6. Jeeze . . .

. . . Why do so many people not realize that the history of the war didn't start on October 8? So many make it seem like big bad Israel just randomly attacked Gaza, ignoring the 1200+ raped, tortured, dismembered, decapitated, incinerated, and shot truly innocent civilians? Not to mention the 130 that were kidnapped. But yeah, it's all Israel's fault. Not even a mention of the almost certain reality that if Hamas laid down their arms and returned the hostages and bodies, the war would end.

Why do so many people here utterly ignore that Hezbollah, a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran, has been lobbing missiles and rockets into Israel for a very long time? Yet Israel takes out a few hundred Hezbollah with supremely targeted pager and phone bombs, and they start squeaking "war crimes!"

What level of bizarro world hell is this anyway? I'm absolutely positive that there is no antisemitism here, right? And no one here wants the two state solution as long as neither of those states has any Jews in them, right?

I must be missing some nuances here, because that is sure how it looks to me.

[AloeVera]

9. Yes you are. Missing quite a few nuances.

I won't bore you with too many, just a sprinkling.

The history didn't start with Oct 7th either. Surely you know that.

Big bad Hamas didn’t just randomly, for NO GOOD REASON, attack on Oct 7th.

And if nothing justified Oct 7th - and I can agree that it was terror and brutality - then nothing justifies what has been done in Gaza either. Also terror and brutality.

Why is it not possible for some to recognize that Israel's hands are not clean either?

Hamas offered to return the hostages early in October, in exchange for no further bombardment. They are not going to do it now. No matter what else they are, they will fight to the last man and that bodes ill for the hostages. Why don't more Israelis protest against the madman of Israel, controlled by the despicable Ben-Givr et al. ? Why don't those here on DU condemn him and his government?

If the destruction of Gaza stops, so will the rockets. What's more important??

"Supremely targeted pager and phone bombs" is an oxymoron. You cannot target booby traps.

[Richard D]

10. I see.

So you justify the Oct 7 attacks. "Big bad Hamas".

I will not say the words that need to be said as that would be against DU's guidelines.

But yes, Hamas did offer to return the hostages in October. However, you leave out the part of their demands for the release of 5200 prisoners, many of whom are murderers and will only go on to kill more. But hey, I imagine that for some antisemites, it's OK as it's only Jews they will be killing—abhorrent belief.

[AloeVera]

12. It was nice knowing you. I think.

[moniss]

3. People have been asking for some time now

why Iran is holding back. It may be that a long game is being played out and that the actual payback may be down the road by many months and maybe even counted in years. It's possible it will be multi-faceted rather than a single action. In any event I don't look for this to all go away even if the current shooting stops.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

5. Guaranteed that if Iran gets involved with troops and naval assests,

the US will respond and destroy what little is left of Iran's Navy and the US and Israel will destroy any Iranian troops trying to make it to the front lines.
And you can bet dollars to donuts that Russia, China, N. Korea have a hand in this also.
Praying and hoping that cooler heads will prevail and prevent this.

[moniss]

7. I don't believe the Iranian response will be

conventional in the sense of troops, planes, ships etc. It may be more something like sabotage of various things on a large scale etc.
The real question for Iranian leadership is what do they gain by just continuing the southern Lebanon strategy they've been using for decades now? Irritation? What kind of goal is that? Keep pouring money into something that only accomplishes that weak result at best?

As far as tactics the detestable Putin has shown that an impact can be made from even a small amount of contact rather than some major push. Targeting individuals, as Putin has done, using toxic material accomplishes generating a lot of fear and resource expense in responding with heightened security/investigation etc. The calculation for Iran as always is what will they be willing to risk as a price to pay for an action? It may well be that, despite US intelligence saying no, Iran is waiting for their day when our seismographs confirm an underground detonation. If that were to occur it would immediately change the calculation of the US/World response to Iran. Every nation that has developed and tested a nuclear weapon capability has immediately been treated in a much more "hands off" manner by the West especially. That fact is not lost on countries. We may well be seeing Iran biding it's time for a reason we will not like or be able to erase. It has always been the great fear for the world that a hateful regime, like in Iran or North Korea, would use a nuclear weapon. Because the unanswered questions are always how to respond and where does it end.

Thankfully the insane moron in North Korea has not acted with his capability and he is too stupid to know how to leverage what he has for getting the world to make things better for his country. His paranoia about control is so complete that he actually fears not having his people be desperate and dependent on him even for fuel to stay warm. But China has much to say about everything in NK also. So the main threat from NK having the weapons might be more of one of proliferation of technology etc. at least until the despot is gone. The case in Iran is different somewhat partly because of the lack of a single iron-fisted paranoid maniac in control. You have multiple aspects in Iran that can push one way or the other at various times for influence and control. This can be a benefit somewhat or it can be more dangerous because of the different spheres of influence. In other words Iran can be more of a risk at this point to go in more than one direction or be "pushed" and have less predictability. NK will not use the nuclear capability if China says no. That is pretty reliably established despite any public "thrashing" about. Iran on the other hand is not as constrained. China and Russia have an influence for sure but it is nowhere near as controlling as in the case of NK. Also NK doesn't have the grievance of multiple attacks on it's soil in recent years and the "heat from the street" so to speak to deal with. Iran does.

So where do we go from here? It does not appear to be ratcheting down.

https://thebulletin.org/2024/04/why-iran-may-accelerate-its-nuclear-program-and-israel-may-be-tempted-to-attack-it/

[iemanja]

8. The problem is the parties involved

Don’t want peace. Nor do their most ardent defenders online.

[Crowman2009]

14. We could get these Talabangelicals in the USA to cut it out with the end-times BS.

They keep goading Israel into escalating things to make their Jeebus come back. Unfortunately Nuttyahoo is buddies with them.

[maxsolomon]

18. "All-out War" means an IDF ground invasion.

the US doesn't want a repeat of 2006. They want the IDF to stay out of Lebanon.

Israel is making strides at "mowing the grass": reducing Hezbollah's operational capacities and arsenal. The US appears OK with that.