JERUSALEM — Amid the start of a ceasefire Wednesday between Israel and the Iranian government-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Some top Republican lawmakers have accused President Biden of frowning on Israel to temporarily suspend the war while the Jewish state is close to ending it – undermining the terrorist group’s leadership and military structure.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) arrived at the Litani River in Lebanon on Tuesday. A key war goal for the IDF is to push Hezbollah forces north of the Litani River under ceasefire agreementHezbollah needs to move its forces north of Litani. which in some areas is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
However, reports of Biden’s threat to impose an arms embargo on Israel have pulled the plug on Israel’s offensive into Hezbollah-controlled territory in southern Lebanon. According to several regional experts and lawmakers,
BIDEN announces ceasefire plan between Israel and Hezbollah that will end 14 months of fighting
Former President Barack Obama (left) and President Biden shake hands during a celebration of passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House on April 5, 2022 in Washington, D.C. C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“The ceasefire agreement does not achieve what Israel has achieved in short order. To the Hezbollah group within two months Israel has dismantled infrastructure along the border. Decapitate the entire high command structure. It destroyed most of its arsenal and killed and injured thousands of its fighters,” Tony Badran Levant, analyst and news editor at Tablet Magazine, told Fox News Digital.
When it comes to the moves of former officials from the Obama administration. Now working in the Biden administration, he said, “What the Obama-Biden team did along the way was oppress Israelis. There were reports that security forces had threatened an arms embargo. Council to sign off on Obama’s vision for the U.S. role in Lebanon, part of his broader pro-Iran restructuring. This is the downside of the deal: It embodies the Obama framework that should be dismantled—and This is separate from the tactical and strategic gains Israel has made on the battlefield. But this has to do with US policy. and how the Obama-Biden team is using Israel to further its regional preferences.”
He continued: “The deal puts the Trump administration and incoming Israelis in a bizarre situation. Not just because it impedes the new administration on Obama’s preferences in Lebanon. This includes hundreds of millions of dollars in additional assistance to the Lebanese army, but it also gives the United States the final say on Israeli action against Hezbollah moving forward. and the possibility of potential conflict between the Trump administration and Israel.
U.S. Ambassador Amos Hochstein speaks during a news conference after meeting with Nabih Berry, Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, in Beirut on March 4, 2024. (Reuters/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo)
“Meanwhile, the Obama-Biden team has already put in place the structure. If the incoming administration can maintain it. It would be good for Democrats to pick it up from the other side and expand it. In any case, they have a document—a bilateral agreement—that will be available to any future Democratic administration,” he warned.
Amos Hochstein, the presidential ambassador who brokered the deal, told Yonit Levi, anchor of Israel’s Channel 12 evening news, that he had informed President Donald Trump’s team about the principles of the deal. “Because it is very important for them to understand and support. because because They will need to continue this and implement it when they take office in just a few weeks.”
Echoing Badran’s warning, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Stated in the statement that “I am deeply disturbed by reports that Obama-Biden officials are exerting enormous pressure on our Israeli allies to accept this ceasefire. and by those officials characterizing Israel’s commitments. This pressure and these statements are further attempts to Undermining Israel and limiting the incoming Trump administration Obama-Biden officials have pressured our Israeli allies to accept a ceasefire by withholding weapons needed to defend themselves and counter Hezbollah, and by threatening to facilitate an international arms boycott that It has an additional, broader, binding effect through the United Nations.”
Hezbollah launches a rocket attack a day after the Hamas massacre of nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 1, Sept. 7, 2024, in southern Israel. Hamas is a terrorist organization supported by the Iranian government. Killed more than 40 Americans during the invasion.
IDF troops fighting Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
According to the Israeli left-wing Haaretz newspaper, An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Biden had threatened to stop sending weapons to Israel. If Jerusalem continues to prosecute the war in Lebanon. Biden’s second threat is reported to involve the United States. Refusing to veto UN Security Council resolutions that could harm Israelis.
The Biden administration has rejected sanctions aimed at Israel to achieve a ceasefire in Lebanon. A senior administration official during a news conference on Tuesday flatly denied that Biden had threatened to boycott Israel at the House. Officials said “This topic has never come up before. Only we weren’t intimidated…in fact the topic had never come up and I don’t even know how to answer it any other way, it was completely new to me. And no one had ever heard of it before.”
Supporting this in a Sept. 12 interview with Israel’s Ch., Hochstein also denied that the Biden administration had threatened Israel over exercising its U.N. Security Council veto. If the deal is not signed, it said “no such discussions have taken place at any point”, adding that “it has never occurred”.
U.S. Department of State Fox News Digital did not immediately respond to media inquiries.
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Mourners raise their hands and shout slogans during the funeral procession of a Hezbollah fighter killed in Friday’s Israeli attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Saturday, Sept. 9, 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Biden’s carrot-and-stick approach to arms deliveries to Israel while the small Jewish state Fight the Seven Front War against representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has created a conflict between Netanyahu and his main allies. That’s the United States.
Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, president and founder of the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, told Fox News Digital that the IDF had eliminated Hezbollah’s leaders. Most of the rockets were wiped out. and pushed away from the border, she said: “The big question that remains is whether Hezbollah will recover and smuggle the rockets and store them in Lebanon and southern Lebanon again.”
Zehavi answered her question saying, “I’m pretty sure this deal won’t happen.”
Lebanese experts have long argued that Hezbollah is the de facto ruler of Lebanon. The United States, Canada and several European countries classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Zehavi said: “The Lebanese government is unwilling to change its relationship with Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a member of the Lebanese government.”
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President Biden speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 1, Sept. 26, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Seneta)
She said she expected the ceasefire terms to be enforced by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the Lebanese army. and the Lebanese state
according to the ceasefire The Lebanese government needs to stop arms smuggling to Hezbollah, Zehawi said.
“I accept this ceasefire with mixed feelings. As a northern person I’m glad we had a ceasefire. I’m glad my daughter is going back to school. I’m happy to be back to normal and Stop hearing the sounds of war and run for shelter all the time.”
Former President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, on July 26. (Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Mayors and local leaders in northern cities damaged by Hezbollah missile attacks Oppose the ceasefire agreement This is because the terms of the agreement do not guarantee that they will safely live in the home.
Biden said more than 70,000 Israelis have been forced to flee their homes in northern Israel. due to Hezbollah rocket attacks According to experts in Israel The number of Israelis in exile may be as high as 100,000.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told Fox News Digital: “The proliferation of weapons outside of state control in Lebanon is an undeniable fact. and southern Lebanon – south of the Litani River – are flagrant violations of Resolution 1701. But as noted, UNIFIL has not previously been ordered to disarm Hezbollah or any other group by force. The mission does not have the authority to enter any premises by force. unless there is reliable evidence that the conduct led to hostility There is activity going on at that place.”
Fox News Digital reports on the alleged failure of UNSC 1701, which was aimed at expelling Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. and disarm terrorist organizations
When asked by CNN about Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, R-Fla., addressed the ceasefire that resulted from Trump, with Jake Sullivan saying, “This peace deal was reached. The outcome was successful because Israel achieved its military objectives. Because Lebanese stakeholders decided they no longer wanted war. And because of the unrelenting American diplomacy led by President Biden. Driven by her ambassador, Amos Hochstein, it was coordinated in this building by the National Security Council. Therefore it is like this.”
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Waltz wrote in of the world that chaos will not be tolerated I’m glad to see concrete steps towards reducing violence in the Middle East, but let’s be clear: The Iranian regime is the source of the chaos and terror throughout the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism.”
A Trump-Vance transition official told Fox News Digital, “President Trump has made clear that his support for Israel and his commitment to peace in the Middle East are unwavering. Hezbollah understands that this is their best chance to strike a more beneficial deal. Iran-backed proxies clearly see the clock ticking as President Trump will soon return to the White House with a strong national security team, including Marco Rubio, Mike Walz and Pete Hegseth, with US intelligence agencies led by Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe, President Trump correctly predicted that actors in the region would move. to peace because of his historic victory. And that’s exactly what we saw happen.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
