Negotiated outcome is the best way to end Lebanon-Israel tension: Sullivan

Beirut, Dec 15: US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday that he has discussed with Israeli officials the volatile situation along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that a “negotiated outcome” is the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel.
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Sullivan said that Washington won’t tolerate threats by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which has been attacking Israeli military posts along the border since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.Over the past two months, Israel has evacuated more than 20,000 of its citizens from towns and villages along the border with Lebanon, some of whom have expressed concerns that they have no plans to return home as long as Hezbollah fighters are deployed on the Lebanese side of the border.
“We need to send a clear message that we will not tolerate the kinds of threats and terrorist activity that we have seen from Hezbollah and from the territory of Lebanon,” Sullivan told reporters in Jerusalem.
“The best way to do this is to come up with a negotiated outcome,” Sullivan said, adding that such an outcome will ensure that “those Israeli citizens in those communities up on the northern border can know that they are not going to be subject to an attack that will take their lives or destroy their communities.”
Sullivan said: “That threat can be dealt with through diplomacy and does not require the launching of a new war.” Still, the US official said that such a step requires not just diplomacy, but deterrence as well.
US NSA meets Prime Minister Netanyahu
US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet members here on Thursday.
Netanyahu thanked Sullivan for the US’ support to Israel in its war against Hamas.The Prime Minister‘s Office in a statement said that Netanyahu and Sullivan discussed the continuation of the Israel-Hamas war until victory and the achievement of the common goals.
They also discussed the elimination of Hamas, the release of all the hostages, the dismantling of Hamas’ military capabilities, and the end of its rule in Gaza.
Discussions on continued humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and the threat of Hezbollah in Northern Israel were also held between them. Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies that fought a war in the summer of 2006. Israel considers them its most serious immediate threat. (Agencies)