CNN —
Hassan Nasrallah’s death puts President Joe Biden in a quandary: No one in the White House has shed a tear for the longtime Hezbollah leader, but the Israeli airstrike that removed him raised concerns about escalating the conflict. Biden says it will only make things worse. We are actively working to avoid this.
Immediately after the operation, Biden was quick to warn the public that he had no prior warning and was not involved. Just 24 hours after both Israel and Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s killing, Biden issued a carefully worded statement declaring the death “a measure of justice” but saying “the goal is to de-escalate.” repeated.
For Biden, the moment represents another balancing act — this time just six weeks before the U.S. presidential election. Already at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the nearly year-long war in Gaza, the president now appears to be at an all-time low in his influence over Netanyahu’s decision-making. Efforts are being made to calm down the two fronts.
Ahead of Friday’s attack, Netanyahu dismissed a cease-fire proposal brokered by the United States and France calling for a 21-day halt in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, and U.S. officials had been led to believe he was participating. made them furious.
Israel notified the U.S. of launching a major operation in Beirut only after it began, an example of Netanyahu defying Biden’s public and private calls for restraint. Some U.S. officials, tired of seeing it repeated, are frustrated.
Speaking to reporters in Delaware on Friday, Biden stressed that he knew little about the operation.
“We are still gathering information,” the president said. He reiterated concerns that a broader conflict was on the horizon, saying the past year had seen its ups and downs but was now at a high point. I’m concerned,” he said.
But despite those concerns, Israel’s target was definitely someone the White House wanted to put to death.
“We welcome it,” a senior government official told CNN after both the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death.
Another government official called the Hezbollah leader a “terrorist” and “murderer” and said “no one here is mourning Nasrallah.”
“Hassan Nasrallah was a terrorist with American blood in his veins,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement released at noon Saturday.
As of Saturday morning, it was too early to know what impact Mr. Nasrallah’s death would have on the region or the imminent possibility of a major outbreak, one of the officials said.
The current U.S. stance is to prepare for a variety of possible retaliations, but it is currently unclear whether such retaliation will come from Hezbollah, Iran, or both.
The biggest question and concern for the Biden administration is how Nasrallah’s death will affect the coming days and weeks in a region where the risk of escalation and escalation of the conflict was already high.
If the events of the past few days had happened six months ago, the risk of a second major war might have been even greater, the first official said. But Hezbollah has been “destroyed” and Iran, which backs the militant group, has also been “significantly weakened,” the official said.
Last month, Israel captured a Hezbollah weapons depot and seriously degraded communications infrastructure, including attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies.
Another senior US official previously told CNN that the US believes Iran will intervene in the conflict if Iranian leaders believe they are “about to lose” Iran’s most powerful proxy, Hezbollah.
As of Saturday, the U.S. had seen no signs that Iran was preparing a large-scale, sustained retaliation, officials said, but acknowledged it was still too early.
“Ultimately, our goal is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic channels,” Biden said in a statement released at noon Saturday. “In Gaza, we have pursued a ceasefire and an agreement to release hostages with the support of the United Nations Security Council. In Lebanon, we have negotiated a deal to safely return people to Israel and their homes in southern Lebanon. continues.”
“The time has come for these agreements to be concluded, for the threat to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability,” he said.
According to the White House, Mr. Biden spoke by phone with Mr. Harris and his national security team on Saturday about developments in the Middle East.
“President Biden spoke by phone with Vice President Harris and her national security team to receive an update on the situation in the Middle East, review the status of U.S. military posture in the region, and provide ongoing support to engage with allies and partners. “We have directed significant diplomatic efforts to avoid escalating the ongoing conflict,” the White House said.
In a sign of U.S. concern that the situation could quickly deteriorate, the State Department on Saturday ordered some employees and their families to leave Lebanon amid fears the conflict could escalate into full-scale war.
The order to leave non-emergency personnel is not an evacuation of the entire embassy, but it certainly reflects the growing instability in the country and the capital, Beirut.
The departure order comes just days after U.S. officials expressed optimism over a “groundbreaking” proposal that they hope will end cross-border violence between Israel and Lebanon. Ta.
U.S. officials were confident in announcing the proposal in part because Ron Dermer, one of Netanyahu’s closest confidants, was on hand to write and amend the statement. Discussions about the ceasefire began Monday with a conversation between Mr. Dermer and Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
U.S. officials were under the impression that Netanyahu would support a cessation of fighting and were encouraged to work with French officials to put together a statement urging a 21-day ceasefire.
Biden administration officials were furious on Thursday after Netanyahu ignored the plan, demanding a public statement from the Israeli side to correct the diplomatic embarrassment.
Angry US officials believed Netanyahu was responding to a backlash from members of the country’s far-right government. Israeli authorities, however, blamed the confusion on “miscommunication.”
In any case, by Friday all talk of an impending ceasefire had died down as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut.
CNN’s Samantha Woldenberg contributed to this report.
