Biden says he’ll speak with Netanyahu, vows all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided

Washington, Sep 30 (IANS) US President Joe Biden has said that he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as tensions in the Middle East increase following Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah.

“Yes, I will be talking to him,” Biden said on Sunday as he headed for the White House from Dover Air Force Base.

He added “we really have to avoid” all-out war in the Middle East, saying, “We’ve already taken precautions relative to our embassies and personnel who want to leave, but we’re not there yet. But we’re working like hell with the French and many others.”

The US backed Israel’s operation, saying that Hassan Nasrallah’s death “is a measure of justice for his many victims”.

In a statement, Biden had said, “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.”

The statement further said, “The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023. Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a “northern front” against Israel.”

Following Nasrallah’s death, Netanyahu had issued a warning to Iran’s Ayatollah regime and asserted that those who target Israel will face consequences and that no location in Iran or the Middle East is beyond Israel’s reach.

He called Nasrallah as “main engine of Iran’s axis of evil” and added, “Nasrallah was not just another terrorist, he was the terrorist. He was the axis of the axis, the main engine of Iran’s axis of evil. He and his people were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel. He was not only operated by Iran, he also frequently operated Iran.”

The US President’s statements come as Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed dozens of people on Sunday.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah sustained a string of deadly blows to its command structure, including the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as part of a wave of increasingly brazen Israeli strikes meant to undercut the group’s capacity to attack its territory.

Before Nasrallah’s killing, Netanyahu brushed off a ceasefire proposal brokered by the US and France that called for a 21-day pause in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, infuriating American officials who had been led to believe he was on board.

Israel informed the US that it was launching its major operation in Beirut only after it was underway — again, to the frustration of some American officials.

Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been forced to evacuate near the Israel-Lebanon border as Hezbollah has launched near-daily rocket volleys at Israel over the past 11 months and Israel has countered with its own strikes.

Already at odds with Netanyahu over the nearly yearlong war in Gaza, Biden is now working to calm two fronts at a moment when his influence on Netanyahu’s decision-making appears to be at an all-time low.

With tens of thousands of civilians displaced on both sides, the Biden administration has tried to bring about a negotiated resolution that would allow them to return home and prevent a wider regional conflict.

–IANS

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