By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House on Wednesday strongly rejected a threat from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Lebanon will see "destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza" if the Lebanese people do not oust Hezbollah.
"We cannot and will not see Lebanon turned into another Gaza. That is not what we want to see," spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. "The suffering in both Gaza and Lebanon adds even greater urgency, as you've heard from us, to our efforts, certainly to end the conflicts and lay a foundation for lasting peace and security in the region."
Jean-Pierre said the suffering in Lebanon "could have been avoided if Hezbollah would have stopped its rocket attacks on Israel."
Netanyahu posted an English-language video Tuesday to X in which he encouraged the Lebanese people to "free themselves from Hezbollah" or enter an "abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.”
The State Department did not directly answer a question about whether the threat is tantamount to terrorism.
Israel has since Sept. 23 mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets, killing more than 1,323 people and injuring nearly 3,700. It began last week a ground invasion of the small Mediterranean nation.
The aerial campaign is an escalation of the year-long cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 42,000 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Hezbollah, for its part, has responded by dramatically increasing rocket attacks against Israel, launching nearly 200 attacks on Tuesday alone, some hitting targets in the Israeli port city of Haifa. At least two Israelis were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire Wednesday.
Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's number two, said Tuesday that the group's military capabilities are “intact” despite Israel's massive aerial campaign, which has killed prominent officials, including Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah who was assassinated in Beirut last month.
"The group is strictly organized. We have overcome the painful blows, and alternatives have been secured in all locations without exception,” he added.