General CQ Brown
As Lebanese military group Hezbollah fired a salvo of missiles onto northern Israel on Monday, the US top general advised Iran not to get involved in the issue and said he did not want the conflict to escalate.
The White House stated earlier on Monday that Iran was complicit, despite the fact that the US has no intelligence or evidence pointing to Iran’s direct participation in attacks in Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
When asked what his message to Iran was, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown responded, “Not to get involved”.
On Monday, at least three Hezbollah militants were killed by Israeli shelling in Lebanon, and Israel responded one of its officers was killed during an earlier cross-border incursion claimed by Palestinians in Lebanon.
The cross-border violence extended a war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza to the Israeli-Lebanese border further north.
In 2006, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah fought a deadly month-long battle.
“We want to send a pretty strong message. We do not want this to broaden and the idea is for Iran to get that message loud and clear”, Brown told media accompanying him to Brussels, in his first public remarks since being confirmed to the job last month.
The United States military is surging a fresh new supply of air defences, munitions, and other security aid to Israel in response to an extraordinary weekend offensive by Hamas.
The Pentagon revealed on Sunday that it was sending an aircraft carrier strike group closer to Israel.
“It sends a very strong message of support for Israel. But it’s also to send a strong message of deterrence to contain broadening this particular conflict”, Brown continued.
He contrasted the behavior of Hamas to that of Islamic State militants.
Brown directed coalition air operations against the Islamic State while serving as the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which manages military operations in the Middle East.
