US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he would speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – at a time when the two men are at odds over Lebanon and amid a fear of an all-out war regional war.
”I’ll tell you what I say to him when I talk to him,” he told reporters but did not say when the conversation would take place. Asked whether the all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, he replied: “It has to be. We really have to avoid it.”
The United States has increased its readiness to beef up its force posture in the region, warning Tehran not to hit American targets, as Iran threatened Israel in the aftermath of its assassination Friday of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Washington and Israel have been increasingly at odds, with Israel pursuing a military strategy while Biden has urged a diplomatic one.
The Biden administration, whose officials were in intense talks with their Israeli counterparts last week over a 21-day ceasefire deal, were given only a few minutes’ notice of the hit.
Containing the Iranian escalation
The Pentagon said on Sunday that the “United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict.”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “made clear that 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,” the Pentagon stressed.
“The Secretary has also increased the readiness of additional US forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies,” it added.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that “Lebanese fighters should not be left alone in this battle, so that the Zionist regime (Israel) does not attack Axis of Resistance countries one after the other.
“We cannot accept such actions and they will not be left unanswered. A decisive reaction is necessary,” Pezeshkian said.
On Sunday, the IDF struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and hit targets in Yemen belonging to the Houthis, another Iranian proxy group. An Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander, Abbas Nilforoushan, was killed in Israel’s bombing Friday of Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani condemned the Israeli strikes in Yemen, saying in a statement that they had targeted “civilian infrastructure,” such as a power plant and fuel tanks.
“Iran once again warns about the consequences of the Zionist regime’s (Israel) warmongering on regional and international peace and security,” Kanaani said.
Gallant growls back at Iran
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued a veiled warning to Iran on Sunday: “I visited the IAF command and control room, where I followed the strike conducted against the Houthi terrorist organization. Our message is clear – for us, no place is too far.”
Netanyahu has been blunt in his direct warnings to Iran – on Friday at the United Nations and on Saturday back in Jerusalem when he stated that Nasrallah “was the axis of the axis, the main engine of Iran’s axis of evil.”
The assassination of Nasrallah has been viewed not just as an attempt to weaken Hezbollah but as a direct message to the Iranian leadership.
Netanyahu, in a public statement to Israelis on Sunday night, said that “Israel has changed the strategic reality in the Middle East with its intense strikes on Iranian proxy groups.
“We crushed Hamas in Gaza. We eliminated most of its chain of command,” he said.
“We forcefully struck Hezbollah, we eliminated Nasrallah, and we are systematically eliminating the top of his command, including another [assassination] today in Lebanon,” Netanyahu stated.
“At the same time, a little while ago, the IDF again hit our enemies in Yemen,” he said.
Everyone sees our military prowess
“Everyone sees the [long] range [of Israeli’s military capacity], everyone sees the fire over the targets, and everyone sees the price paid by those who attack us,” Netanyahu stated.
“When I ordered the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, we all knew that an entire nation was behind this decision."
“I said yesterday that we are in a period of days of greatness, but also challenging days. These are large days – because, in them, we are changing the strategic reality in the Middle East,” Netanyahu stated.
He speculated that Israel’s display of force would help forge ties with new allies in the Middle East. In his address to the UNGA on Friday, he speculated that Israel could soon normalize ties with Saudi Arabia.
“The change in the balance of power brings with it the possibility of creating new alliances in our region because Israel is winning,” Netanyahu stated.
“Our enemies and friends once again see Israel as it is – a strong, determined, powerful country,” Netanyahu said.
He stressed, however, that there are still difficult days ahead as Israel stands firm on the goals it has set – “the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages, and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
The Lebanon conundrum
In light of the escalating hostilities, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is expected to visit Lebanon and Israel on Monday. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron and Biden proposed a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which is still in discussions. Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah took place after that proposal was put on the table.
Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary said, during a cabinet session on Sunday, that diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire with Israel were underway.
“It is certain that the Lebanese government wants a ceasefire, and everyone knows that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu went to New York based on the premise of a ceasefire, but the decision was made to assassinate Nasrallah,” Makary said.
“Diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire are ongoing,” Makery noted, adding that “the matter is not that easy.”
Israel’s military actions have stressed its relationship with Washington.
The US has supported Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas in Gaza and pushing Hezbollah out of areas of southern Lebanon by its border. Biden on Saturday acknowledged that Nasrallah has been responsible for four decades of terrorist activity in which hundreds of Americans had been killed. At the same time, he said, the time had come to “close” the diplomatic deals on the table for Gaza and Lebanon.
US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby expanded on the US position of supporting Israel’s goals but not its tactics on Sunday.
“I don’t think anybody is mourning the loss of Mr. Nasarallah, a known terrorist, a guy with American blood on his hands, as well as Israeli blood on his hands,” Kirby told CNN’s Sunday morning show State of the Union.
Hezbollah, he explained, “is a terrorist organization. He was the leader of it, and I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby stated.
He noted that it was too early to assess the impact on Hezbollah of that assassination or the Israeli killing of Hezbollah commanders.
Hezbollah will “try to recover,” Kirby said. “We’re watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. It’s going to be tough” now that “much of their command structure has been wiped out,” Kirby said.
Diplomacy inevitable
Still, he said, “The President continues to believe that there needs to be time and space for diplomacy, and that means we’d like to see a ceasefire in place so that diplomacy can breathe.”
Diplomacy is also the best way to avoid a direct US-Iran confrontation, Kirby posited, adding that should that fail, “We certainly will make sure that we have the capability to not only defend our troops and our facilities, diplomats, and military as well as Israel itself if it comes to that, hopefully, it won’t.
“I think what we would agree on is that there needs to be an effort to de-escalate here,” Kirby said.
Israel has a right to defend itself, Kirby stressed, adding that Washington shared Netanyahu’s goal of ensuring that the more than 60,000 evacuated Israelis could safely return to their border communities in the North.
“We believe, and continue to believe, that an all-out war with Hezbollah, certainly with Iran, is not the way to do that if you want to get those folks back home safely and sustainably. We believe that a diplomatic path is the right course,” he said.
Israel is “under threat” and “wants to make sure” it knows that the US would “continue to support them in beating back that threat,” he said.
“At the same time,” it plans to have “some tough conversations with them about how they do that and what the next steps will be,” Kirby stated.
“We have made no bones about the fact that we don’t necessarily see the tactical execution the same way that they do, in terms of protection,” he noted.
Reuters contributed to this report.