Israel gives US 'few weeks' for Lebanon diplomatic solution

Israel has told the Biden administration it wants Hezbollah's forces to be pushed roughly 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the border as part of a diplomatic deal to end tensions with Lebanon, three Israeli and U.S. officials told U.S. news portal Axios.

President Joe Biden's senior adviser, Amos Hochstein, and other U.S. officials have been working on trying to reach such a diplomatic solution but so far little progress has been made.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Monday that Israel wants a deal that includes pushing Hezbollah's forces far enough that they will not be able to fire at Israeli settlements along the border or be able to conduct a raid like the one Hamas conducted on Oct. 7, Israeli and U.S. officials told Axios.

The Israeli prime minister and the minister of defense told Austin that as part of this agreement they want Hezbollah to not be allowed to go back to its positions along the border, which Israel destroyed in the last two months, the officials said.

U.S. and Israeli officials said Austin told Netanyahu and Gallant that the Biden administration understands the Israeli concerns and will push for a peaceful solution, but asked that Israel give time and space for diplomacy and not take steps that exacerbate the tensions.

Netanyahu and Gallant said that Israel is willing to give diplomacy a chance, but stressed they want to see progress in the next few weeks, Israeli officials said.

Shortly after the war in Gaza began, Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military outposts along the border and launching rockets and drones into the northern parts of Israel.

Israel has evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from Israeli villages and towns close to the border as a precaution for a possible attack by Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces like the one Hamas conducted on Oct. 7.

The Israeli government said publicly that in order to allow Israeli citizens to go back to their homes, the situation needs to change either through a diplomatic solution or military action.