Joint Chiefs of Staff head Charles Q. Brown warned on Monday that the US may not be able to help defend Israel against an all-out war with Hezbollah in the same way that it stepped in during the Iran drone attack in April.
Brown, a US Air Force general, also said that Iran “would be more inclined to support Hezbollah."
While the Islamic Republic supports Hamas, General Brown said that Tehran would stand more firmly behind Hezbollah, “particularly if they felt that Hezbollah was being significantly threatened.”
Brown also said that any Israeli military offensive into Lebanon could risk triggering a broader war, putting US forces in danger.
Risk of escalation
In the event of war, Brown said the US would likely not be able to provide the same assistance as it did when Iran carried out a missile and drone attack on Israel earlier this year. He also said it was hard to fend off the shorter-range rockets that Hezbollah fires across the border into Israel.
He asserted that the safety of US forces was the priority and reiterated that no attacks had been carried out on US bases in the region since February.
Brown said that the US continued to warn Israel against going to war with Lebanon.
"Think about the second order of effect of any type of operation into Lebanon, and how that might play out and how it impacts not just the region, but how it impacts our forces in regions as well,” Brown reportedly said.
Brown's comments come amid heightened expectations that the IDF may launch a military campaign in Lebanon to oust Hezbollah from the territory on Israel’s border to stop its persistent attacks.
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