The Washington Post reports:

The Biden administration is divided over Israel’s military escalation against Hezbollah with some senior officials viewing it as a reckless bombardment likely to produce more deadly cycles of violence and others seeing it as a potentially effective means of degrading the Lebanese militant group and forcing it to back down.

Senior officials are publicly calling for de-escalation as the administration tries to find a diplomatic off-ramp to the metastasizing Middle East conflict. In the past two weeks, Israel’s brazen sabotage of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies and a series of airstrikes have killed hundreds, including a top Hezbollah commander on Friday.

“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” President Joe Biden said in a speech to the United Nations on Tuesday. “A diplomatic solution … remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely.”

As he spoke, Israel’s military continued to pound Lebanon with airstrikes. [Continue reading…]