“We have to make sure that the people of northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to return home and return safely,” US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday after the death of Commander-in-Chief and head of Hezbollah operations, Ibrahim Aqil following a “strike” by the Israeli army.

The United States is not involved in IDF attacks in Lebanon, US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby told reporters earlier Friday, the Jerusalem Post reports.

“There has been no US involvement,” Kirby said, adding, “we believe there is still time and space for diplomacy to work.”

The US does not want to see escalation

“We don’t want to see escalation. “We don’t want to see a second war, a second front in this war, opening up on the border with Lebanon,” Kirby stressed, adding that “everything we do will be about trying to prevent that. “

“There is no reason why an expanded military conflict in Lebanon is inevitable,” Kirby said.