White House: predictions of all-out war in Lebanon exaggerated

The White House ruled out Monday the possibility of a full-scale war between the Lebanese Hezbollah group and the Israeli occupation forces following the weekend deadly rocket attack on the occupied Golan Heights. "We believe that there is still time and space for a diplomatic solution," the White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said in an online press conference. "We've been in continuous discussions with our Israeli and Lebanese counterparts and the United States will continue to support efforts to reach a diplomatic solution along that blue line." He went on to say that "We all heard about this all-out war scenario now multiple points over the last 10 months. Those predictions were exaggerated then. Quite frankly, we think they're exaggerated". "Nobody wants a broader war. And I'm confident that we'll be able to avoid such an outcome," he affirmed. Kirby pointed out that the US continues diplomatic conversations with both sides to try to reduce the tensions and to allow for familie s, both Israeli and Lebanese members to move back into their homes where they want to be where they belong. The US official also ruled out the possiblity of a negative impact of the rocket fire on the ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza. "We don't believe that the outcome needs to be an escalation. It's too soon to know whether there's you know whether it's going to have any kind of an impact on ceasefire deal negotiations, but I want to again, reiterate what I said earlier." "We don't see any indications at this point in time here on Monday morning that there's going to be a significant impact on it. We still believe the gaps can be narrowed and closed. Take some compromise takes leadership. That's what we're focused on," he argued. Source: Kuwait News Agency