Miller: Israel's incursions aimed at degrading Hezbollah infrastructure, says group's refusal to implement Resolution 1701 hinders stability

In response to a question about Hezbollah's desire for a ceasefire and its disconnection from Gaza, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated on Tuesday: “For a year, the world has been calling on Hezbollah to stop the attacks across the border into Israel, and for a year, Hezbollah said it would not do so unless there were a ceasefire in Gaza.”

He added that while the international community was urging an end to the fighting, Israel stated it would cease its attacks against Hezbollah if the group halted its border assaults. “So for a year, you had the world calling for this ceasefire, and you had Hezbollah refusing to agree to one,” Miller said.

“Hezbollah's forces in southern Lebanon refused to fully implement Resolution 1701; under the terms of that resolution, Hezbollah was supposed to put down its arms and withdraw beyond the Litani River,” he said.

Miller noted that for over 18 years, Hezbollah not only refused to implement it, but “they increased their arms just over the border from Lebanon, and they increased the number of forces just over the border from Israel.”

He emphasized that the U.S. supports Israel's efforts to “degrade” Hezbollah's capabilities, affirming that a diplomatic resolution is necessary to solve the conflict. “We believe that it is ultimately the only resolution that will provide real, lasting security to both the Israeli and Lebanese people.”

In a briefing, Miller said there is “an obvious lack of faith in Hezbollah's ability to do what it said it would do in 2006 and what it is saying it would do now, which is to agree to an actual ceasefire that would allow Israeli civilians to return home and allow Lebanese civilians to return home.”

“We do support Israel launching these incursions to degrade Hezbollah's infrastructure,” he said, while noting, “We can get a diplomatic resolution that allows Resolution 1701 to finally be fully implemented.”

Miller stated that the desired outcome of this conflict is for Lebanon to break Hezbollah's grip on the country and remove its veto over a president, which has kept the country in a political stalemate.

He noted that Hezbollah has hindered progress for two years, preventing the election of a president and blocking the state from being the sole authority exercising force in southern Lebanon.

Miller explained that this is ultimately what has kept UN Security Council Resolution 1701 from being implemented; UNIFIL cannot perform its duties effectively because Hezbollah has not withdrawn or disarmed.

He emphasized that Hezbollah must enable the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL to fulfill their responsibilities under Resolution 1701.

Additionally, he expressed concern over potential instability within Lebanon, noting that one possible outcome of the situation could arise if Hezbollah continues to resist allowing the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL to do their jobs.