U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he would speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s intensifying conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, adding that a full-blown regional war must be avoided.
“It has to be,” Biden said as he boarded Air Force One for Washington, D.C. “We really have to avoid it.”
Biden on Saturday praised Israel’s targeted killing of Hezbollah terror master Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, saying the development had brought justice to his thousands of victims.
“Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror. His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese civilians,” he said.
Nasrallah was killed on Friday in an Israel Defense Forces strike on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in the heart of Beirut’s Dahiyeh district.
Jerusalem reportedly notified Washington about the operation only after the jets were in the air.
The Israeli Air Force dropped at least a dozen 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs in the strike on Nasrallah, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing munitions experts and an analysis of videos published by the Israel Defense Forces.
The U.S.-manufactured precision munitions can penetrate underground before detonating, reducing the risk of civilian casualties and increasing the likelihood of successfully destroying fortified infrastructure.
The Biden administration is concerned that Iran could strike Israel in response to Nasrallah’s assassination, a U.S. official told CNN on Sunday.
The official noted that the countries are preparing for a joint defense, which includes changes in U.S. military posture, while not specifying the type of attack expected from Tehran or what moves the military is making.
“Should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every necessary measure to defend our people,” according to a Pentagon statement on Sunday night.
Biden said on Saturday that his administration “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.”
However, Washington’s ultimate aim “is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means,” said the president.
“In Gaza, we have been pursuing a deal backed by the U.N. Security Council for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and Southern Lebanon. It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability,” added Biden.
