The White House gave full backing Tuesday to an Israeli army operation to destroy tunnels built under the border with Lebanon by the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

President Donald Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton said that “the US strongly supports Israel’s efforts to defend its sovereignty.”

“More broadly, we call on Iran and all of its agents to stop their regional aggression and provocation, which pose an unacceptable threat to Israeli and regional security,” Bolton said.

The surprise announcement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels over regional dangers, with both having repeatedly warned about the activities of Iran.

Netanyahu said he discussed the operation with Pompeo and called the tunnels a violation of a UN resolution aimed at ending a 2006 war between Israel and Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

It was unclear how many tunnels exist or what the Israeli military would do to destroy them.

AFP