Israel has the United States’s support in carrying out limited ground “incursions” into southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

The U.S. maintains its belief that the Israel-Hezbollah conflict will be resolved diplomatically, though it also supports Israel’s efforts to degrade the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s capabilities.

“Yes, we do support Israel launching these incursions to degrade Hezbollah’s infrastructure,” Miller told reporters Tuesday, hours after a senior Hezbollah leader publicly shared support for the Lebanese government’s efforts to get a ceasefire agreement finalized.

“So for a year, you had the world calling for this ceasefire, you had Hezbollah refusing to agree to one, and now that Hezbollah is on the back foot and is getting battered, suddenly they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire,” he added. “I think it’s not surprising given the situation they find themselves in. We continue to ultimately want a diplomatic solution to this conflict.”

Hezbollah began firing rockets and missiles from southern Lebanon into northern Israel a year ago, one day after Hamas, the U.S.-designated Gaza-based terrorist organization, carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history.

Hezbollah has not ceased its attacks, and it has fired more than 8,000 rockets and missiles toward Israel over the last year, according to Israeli officials. Hezbollah’s attacks have largely taken place along the Israel-Lebanon border, but it has the capabilities to hit targets further south in Israel. Israeli authorities evacuated more than 50,000 people in northern Israel due to fears that Hezbollah could carry out a cross-border raid such as Hamas did.

Israel and Hezbollah’s last direct war occurred nearly two decades ago. In 2006, the two sides went to war for about a month, ending with the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. The resolution called for Israel’s military to withdraw from southern Lebanon and for Hezbollah to move north of the Litani River, which would, if implemented, have created a roughly 18-mile buffer zone between Israel’s border and where Hezbollah would be allowed to station.

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“We continue to ultimately want a diplomatic solution to this conflict, but as you’ve heard me say for the past several days, Hezbollah’s forces in southern Lebanon refused to fully implement United Nations Security Council 1701,” Miller said. “Over the 18 years since that resolution was implemented, they refused to do either of those things. In fact, not only did they refuse to do that, they increased their arms just over the border from [Israel].”

The Biden administration has repeatedly said its top priority is to prevent a wider war from enveloping the region.