A poster of former President of Lebanon and a Lebanese militia commander Bachir Gemayel adorns the wall of a building in Beirut. He was assassinated in 1982.
Washington/Beirut/Jerusalem: Just before Israel conducted a “targeted strike” on Hezbollah’s stronghold in Lebanon’s capital Beirut and killed twelve people and wounded 59 others today, the United States termed the situation in Lebanon as “very dangerous”, but reiterated its support for “Israel’s right to defend itself in case Israel invades Lebanon”.
Today’s strike comes after the explosions in walkie-talkies used by the armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon in which 14 people were killed and 450 wounded on September 18, 2024, and the almost simultaneous explosions in pagers used by members of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, that killed at least nine people and wounding thousands more.
Israel has so far not taken responsibility for these remote explosions. However, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant did laud Israel’s army and security agencies because “the results are very impressive.”
Gallant stated that his country was now at the start of a “new phase” in the war and made it amply clear that “the centre of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces”.
Washington immediately came to his support despite US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s statement in Egypt on September 18, 2024, he didn’t want to see any party escalate this conflict.
The US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said on September 19, “We are committed to the defence of Israel against terrorist organizations. That includes Hamas. It includes Hizballah [Hezbollah]. It includes other Iranian proxies. We will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself. But we don’t want to see any party escalate this conflict, period”.
Miller, though, stressed that the US will continue to push “to try to calm tensions, to try to urge all parties to de-escalate and try to get to a place eventually where we can push for a diplomatic resolution”.
The US has been involved in arranging ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel with the help of Egypt and Qatar but when asked whether the attacks on the communications equipment adversely impact such efforts, Miller said: “I think it’s too early to speculate or comment on what any type of implications might be. But as has been true in similar incidents over time since we’ve been trying to reach a ceasefire to this conflict, the continued loss of life ought to encourage all parties to reach a ceasefire. It ought to be in the interests of all parties to reach a ceasefire that brings the hostages home, that stops the death of civilians in Gaza, that decreases tensions across the Blue Line, that decreases tensions across the region.”
However, after the explosions in devices, Hezbollah said Israel will now face “tough retribution and just punishment” for the blasts. Significantly, when Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was warning Israel in a televised address to the people that the Lebanese front “will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops”, Israeli jets were breaking the sound barrier over Beirut on September 19, 2024.
About the nature of the explosions in walkie-talkies and pagers in Beirut that targeted Hezbollah, Miller said Washington was still gathering information. However, he was quick to add, “As a general principle, we do believe it is an appropriate practice for any country to defend itself by fighting terrorist organizations and terrorists that attack and are committed to attacking that country”.
However, since there were accounts of children being killed in explosions in Lebanon, he quickly added, “But of course, civilians are never a legitimate target in any type of military or other operation”.
The US also warned Iran and its proxies for its attempts to influence the US elections through its cyber actors and sent a loud message to Tehran that it will “hold them accountable for those actions”.
Reportedly, the Iranian hackers tried to penetrate the presidential campaign and managed to steal Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign information and share it with what was then the Joe Biden-Kamla Harris campaign.
“It was of course disclosures by the United States that brought all of this to light. I think these latest attempts are nothing new by the Iranian regime. It’s sought to undermine democracies around the globe for years. But of course, they’re absolutely troubling,” Miller said.
– global bihari buraeu
