US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that Washington fully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against organizations backed by Iran and referred to the death of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Israel as “a measure of justice” for his numerous victims.
According to a White House statement, Biden gave Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin instructions to strengthen US military forces’ defence posture in the Middle East in order to thwart aggression and lower the likelihood of a wider conflict.
The US’s ultimate goal, according to Biden, was to use diplomacy to defuse the current hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon.
Defying Washington, Israel continued its strikes on Hezbollah, which have killed hundreds of people in Lebanon and raised fears of a full-scale regional conflict on Thursday, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire with the movement.
When asked on Saturday by reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, if an Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon was inevitable, Biden responded, “It’s time for a ceasefire.”
In the White House statement, Biden emphasized that he fully supports Israel’s attack on Nasrallah, which took place while Biden and other mediators were attempting to mediate a ceasefire deal, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New York for the UN General Assembly.
During a four-decade terror reign, hundreds of Americans lost their lives at the hands of Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist organization he led, Hezbollah. “His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his numerous victims, thousands of Israelis, Americans, and civilians in Lebanon,” Biden stated.
He pointed out that on October 7, 2023, the day following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel, when Israeli tallies showed that Hamas gunmen had killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 more, Nasrallah had also backed the terrorist group.
Since then, Israel’s military has leveled large areas of Gaza, forcing almost all of its 2.3 million residents from their homes, resulting in severe malnutrition and illness, and killing over 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
After months of trying, Biden administration officials have failed to end the Gaza conflict and Israel-Hezbollah fighting. The fighting erupted after Hezbollah’s pagers and hand-held radios exploded, leaving nearly 3,000 people injured and dozens dead.
Biden made the statement while spending the weekend at his vacation home. “The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups,” Biden explained.
He continued, “It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to end, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability.”
After calling top national security officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, to get an update on the situation in the Middle East and discuss the status of US military personnel there, Biden had a brief conversation with reporters.
Although he did not specifically condemn Israel’s actions, he did state that the US was looking for diplomatic ways to end the conflicts.
He continued, “It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to end, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability.”
Biden also told reporters, without providing any specifics, that the US was retaliating against missile attacks on US warships in the Red Sea by the Houthis of Yemen, who are aligned with Iran.
