The US government quietly backed Israel’s military attack on Lebanon, The New Republic wrote, with US officials telling Israel that the US would support their decision to bomb Hezbollah targets, even with US President Joe Biden urging a ceasefire in the region as soon as Monday.
The report names presidential adviser Amos Hochstein and White House coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk, who told Israeli officials that the US supported their strategy to launch military attacks on Lebanon. At the same time some officials in the State Department and the Department of Defense cautioned that backing Israel could pull the US further into war in the region.
“...actions speak louder than words. And, the Biden administration has consistently enabled Israel's aggressions and criminality, and after the fact, has justified it, as it did here. It justified what Israel did, the killing of Nasrallah, even though it obliterated hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians - I'm sorry, Lebanese civilians - and laid waste to multiple apartment blocks,” said Dimitri Lascaris, a lawyer and journalist based in Montreal, Canada and Kalamata, Greece who joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Wednesday.
“So, it should have been clear to anybody who was looking at the situation objectively that the Biden administration does support what Israel is doing in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, and with respect to Iran,” he added. “The fact that some officials occasionally get up and say, ‘we really want to defuse the situation,’ and then they send off to Lebanon, Hochstein, who used to serve in the Israeli military, to try to do just that.”
“That should have fooled no one. Should have fooled no one. Now, [the report] has exposed the Biden administration’s dirty laundry.”
Despite reports that the US secretly green-lit Israel’s military attack on Lebanon, the US warned Iran that it would face severe consequences for its ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday. Biden also reiterated US support for Israel and said there would be a discussion with their ally about how to respond.
"This is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event," U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House. "We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case."
“...we should first of all acknowledge that this is retaliatory. What Iran did was the result of an accumulation of aggressions, including the destruction of its consulate in Damascus months ago, the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran when he was there for the inauguration of the new president, the killing of Iranian military officers and a lower-level military personnel in Syria again and again and again,” the analyst explained.
Lascaris then reported that “video after video” was shared across social media on Tuesday night showing “dozens of Iranian missiles making ground impact”. He added that he did not see any evidence of the Israeli air defense being “meaningfully engaged”. The Israeli government then admitted to the media that significant damage was done to Israeli military bases, he added.
“So, if you're looking at this as a rational actor, you would say, do we really want to invite an even larger attack by Iran, especially when, for example, they could begin targeting key infrastructure, including the Dimona nuclear power plant? This is insanity,” the analyst noted. “The Israelis, if they have any sense about them, will stop de-escalation here because Iran has not yet delivered anywhere close to the full force of its destructive capacity on Israel. And Israel, I think, is effectively defenseless against Iran's best missiles.”
The Pentagon said that two US Navy destroyers fired about a dozen interceptors against Iranian missiles which were aimed at Israel, Reuters reported. Major General Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon spokesperson, said the attack was “significant” and also maintained that Israel had a right to defend itself. He added that the retaliatory strike against Israel was about twice the scope of their attack in April.
The US also appeared to be dismayed that they had not received a warning from Iran that they would strike.
“...the actions do not match the rhetoric. I think [Israel] said they were going to be striking all over the Middle East last night. And then we wake up today and we find out that eight—they report, the Israelis—eight of their soldiers, including officers, were massacred in a bloodbath on the Lebanese border, and there were many wounded. And when they tried to evacuate them, they came under heavy fire,” Lascaris reported.
“...every piece of major infrastructure in Israel is now vulnerable, including the Dimona nuclear power plant,” he added. “...I do think there are people within the Israeli military and intelligence community who stopped and said, maybe we should reflect upon exactly what we're doing here because the next wave of missiles is going to be no more numerous and larger, and, we may not have seen the best missiles they have yet.”
“And the other thing that might be influencing, might be causing this hesitation, is there are some reports that Israel lost a lot of fighter aircraft in those attacks, including F-35s. And so, some of those aircraft might have been necessary to retaliate,” the journalist added. “And Iran might have dealt a significant blow to Israel's ability to deliver retaliation to the territory of Iran.”