Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Hezbollah, killing its long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah. What does this mean for West Asia’s stability?
As Israeli troops pound Hezbollah, Biden pushes case for avoiding all-out war in West Asia.
US President Joe Biden also said there was an urgent need to avoid a full-scale regional war at least at this point against some rising tensions in West Asia.
“This war in West Asia all-out has to be avoided, at least at this point,” he emphasized.
File photo of US President Joe Biden (L) meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R). Source: REUTERS.
This came hours after news flashed about intense airstrikes reportedly by Israeli forces on Hezbollah, a very powerful militia group in Lebanon funded and backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The airstrikes have reportedly killed some top Hezbollah figures. Among them is its long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah.
While Biden wouldn’t say when he anticipated holding a previously scheduled conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he telegraphed that he did want to talk to the Israeli leader soon.
“We really have to avoid it [war],”‘ Biden told reporters when asked whether escalation in the region could be controlled.
He made those comments before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington.
A call by the US President for diplomacy came after growing fears that the conflict could spill into a larger regional war involving Lebanon, Syria, and even Iran.
Analysts say Hezbollah’s heavy presence in Lebanon blended with deep ties to Tehran makes it a main player in any possible conflict.
It had long been known as a proxy force of Iran charged with pushing the interests of Tehran across the Middle East.
Israeli Airstrikes and Hezbollah Leadership
The US officials announced on Wednesday that Israel has launched several waves of airstrikes over the past few days that have severely weakened its foe’s Hezbollah leadership.
Among the targets, so reports say, are airstrikes targeting the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the group who has been the leader of Hezbollah for decades.
His death marks a defining moment in Hezbollah’s long-standing hostilities against Israel.
The Hezbollah leader was Nasrallah, putting the organization on a course that may bring them to a position of military and political power and has been a thorn in the side of Israel for decades.
Hezbollah Leadership Targeted in Israeli Airstrikes: Hassan Nasrallah Killed
At least 100 Hezbollah fighters are believed to have been killed, along with Nasrallah; the command infrastructures were all destroyed.
These attacks were part of a larger Israeli strategy to neutralize the threat coming from Hezbollah, which had been launching rockets and conducting other military actions against territory within Israel for several years.
Israeli authorities declared these bombardments to target stripping Hezbollah of its capability to wage war against Israel, which greatly serves the goals of the U.S. in the region.
Biden’s “Measure of Justice”
Concessionary words about the strikes: Biden’s defense of a right to self-defense by Israel takes the side of growing international concern that the escalation into a wider war is imminent.
The White House described Hezbollah — and Nasrallah in particular — as responsible for a long list of terror acts claiming hundreds of American citizens’ lives over the last four decades.
“This was Hezbollah, but above all, Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he commands,” Biden said of one of the channels of violence that have stained the bloodstains across the Middle East.
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“His death in an Israeli airstrike marks a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese civilians.”
He instead said that the US has no choice but to stand fully with Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, and any other group supported by Iran that tries to threaten its security.
He went further in his remarks and stamped an ink that death of Nasrallah is not only a tactical victory for Israel but also a moment of justice to those who have suffered under the Hezbollah regime of terror.
“Good for the World,” says White House
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby reiterated that the U.S. supports Israel’s war against Hezbollah.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Kirby said that Israel had “degraded Hezbollah’s command and control structures quite significantly.
” That, Kirby pointed out, is a good thing for the security of the world.
“These attacks against Hezbollah command are good for the world,” Kirby said Sunday, echoing the view of the U.S. government in looking at this removal of Nasrallah from the battle as definitely net positive.”.
Further, Kirby stressed that even if Hezbollah will try to restore its top leadership within a relatively short period of time, the harm done to it by these strikes will take some time for that organization to overcome.
“I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said, claiming that the removal of that important terrorist leader, Nasrallah, stabilizes such an unstable region.
Netanyahu’s Warning to Iran
On the same day as the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an effusive warning to Iran and its regional proxies: “Those who threaten us will be struck.
Those who seek to harm our children will be met with their own fate.” Netanyahu said Nasrallah had been a leading force in Iran’s regional strategy: “the main engine of Iran’s axis of evil.”
Speaking both to the Israeli and international audience, Netanyahu promised Tehran: “There is not an inch in Iran or the Middle East where the arm of Israel cannot reach.”
A terrorist leader would become something greater for Netanyahu: the chief orchestrator of a greater plot fabricated to eliminate Israel-a plot whose dialectical opposite is not Iran but rather Israel.
“He wasn’t only directed against Iran,” Netanyahu said, “often against Iran itself.”
Netanyahu’s rhetoric was nothing if not crystal clear: Israel will not wait to be sat upon to set up the spectacle of aggression from Iran or its friends, anywhere.
PM Netanyahu’s remarks thus have been seen both as a stern warning message to Iran and one of reassurance to Israel’s allies, most notably in the United States.
A Tipping Point?
The death of Nasrallah would be a rite of passage moment in the battle between Israel and Hezbollah, the latter needing to look for new leadership and again affirm its hegemony over Lebanon and elsewhere.
Still, there is the scenario in which these battles could escalate into full war.
There are enough missiles on both sides of the conflict, and the escalation and widening of the conflict could quickly draw in other regional parties to the battle, such as Iran.
The Biden administration seems to have resorted to diplomacy for the time being; the president, therefore, looks to talk directly to Netanyahu in the coming days.
There is a high likelihood of further escalations as Iran appears to tighten its noose in the region.
The world waits on the sideline while an all-out war can spill easily into West Asia as Biden battles to salvage the region from full-scale war.
It will be very interesting as weeks pass, considering that they are key to determining whether peace or conflict becomes the order of the day in the region.