Now the war has started on the ground

Israel has carried out small and precise attacks on the Lebanese border as part of a larger campaign planned. A US official said Israel has informed the US about the ongoing attacks, but Israel has not given any information about the timing of the plans for the larger campaign.

According to the official, the US has not asked Israel to stop all its activities in Lebanon and it will not do so either, because Washington supports Israel's right to self-defense. At the same time, the Lebanese government said that so far 1 million of its people have been displaced by the attacks.

An Israeli campaign in Lebanon

A diplomat in Cairo said that an Israeli campaign is going on in Lebanon. The diplomat said that Israel has shared its plans with the US and other Western allies and this campaign will be limited. Due to the sensitivity of the situation, the officials have given this information on the condition of anonymity.

Ground operation in Lebanon
The State Department said on Monday that Israel has told the US that it is conducting a limited ground operation focused on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon. "They have told us that they are currently conducting limited operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near the border," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said when asked to confirm that they were limited ground operations.

Attack on Hezbollah militia
There were signs on Monday that Israel is on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon, two weeks after it launched an attack on Iran-backed Hezbollah militia that culminated in the killing of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the positioning of Israeli troops suggested a ground incursion could take place.

US and Iran also at loggerheads
After two weeks of air strikes and killings of Hezbollah commanders, Israel has suggested more strongly that a land invasion is looming. Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict that extends from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank to Yemen and Iranian-backed groups in Iraq. The escalation has raised fears that the US and Iran will also be caught up in the conflict.

Support for ceasefire
Miller said the US supports a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, but he said military pressure can sometimes enable diplomacy. He cautioned that military pressure can also lead to miscalculations and unintended consequences.