US President Joe Biden has called the Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah a “measure of justice” for his four-decade reign of terror.
The comments came after Lebanon’s Hezbollah group confirmed earlier on Saturday that Mr Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut the previous day.
Mr Biden noted that the operation to take out Mr Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’ massacre of Israelis 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,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
He also noted that Hezbollah under Mr Nasrallah’s watch has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans.
Hezbollah attacks against US interests include the truck bombing of the US embassy and multinational force barracks in Beirut in 1983, and the kidnapping of the Central Intelligence Agency chief of station in Beirut, who died while held captive.
The US said Hezbollah leaders armed and trained militias that carried out attacks on American forces during the war in Iraq.
The White House sees the death of Mr Nasrallah as a huge blow to the group. At the same time, the administration has sought to tread carefully as it has tried to contain Israel’s war with Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran, from exploding into an all-out regional conflict.
The White House and Pentagon were quick on Friday, shortly after the strike, to say publicly that Israel offered it no forewarning of the operation.
The confirmation of Mr Nasrallah’s death comes during a week that began with Mr Biden’s top national security aides working on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to build support for a 21-day Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that they hoped might also breathe new life into stalled efforts to secure a truce in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech on Friday to the United Nations, vowing to keep up operations against Hezbollah until tens of thousands of Israeli citizens displaced by rocket attacks can return home. Shortly after, Israel carried out the strike killing Mr Nasrallah.
Mr Biden reiterated on Saturday that he wants to see ceasefires both in Gaza and between Israel and Hezbollah.
“It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability,” he said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US of supporting the killing that took out Nasrallah and dozens of others.
“The world community will not forget that the order of the terrorist strike was issued from New York and the Americans cannot absolve themselves from complicity with the Zionists,” Mr Pezeshkian was quoted as saying in a statement read on Iranian state television.
