US President Joe Biden said on Sunday he would speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and stressed the importance of an all-out war in the Middle East being avoided.
“It has to be,” Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington, according to The Associated Press. “We really have to avoid it.”
He would not say when he planned to speak with Netanyahu.
Biden’s comments came after US officials told ABC News that Israel is currently conducting, or is about to begin conducting, "small-scale operations," or "border movements," into Lebanon.
The officials stressed that Israel does not seem to have fully decided whether to launch a ground operation in Lebanon, but that the IDF is prepared for one. Such an operation, if it takes place, is likely to be "limited" in scope, they said.
Earlier, a senior administration official and a US official told CNN that the US sees the possibility of a limited ground incursion into Lebanon as Israel moves forces to its northern border.
At the same time, the officials stressed that Israel does not appear to have made a decision on whether to carry out a ground incursion.
On Saturday, Biden called for a ceasefire in Lebanon when asked by reporters if an Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon was inevitable.
"It's time for a ceasefire," Biden told reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.