The Pentagon said on Saturday that Secretary Lloyd Austin informed his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Friday that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and the groups it supports from exploiting the situation in Lebanon or expanding the conflict.
Pentagon spokesman Batterider added that Austin expressed the United States’ full support for Israel’s right to defend itself and “made clear that the United States remains ready to protect American forces and installations in the region and is committed to defending Israel.”
The American position came after Hezbollah confirmed the killing of its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, in the air strike carried out by Israel, on Friday, on the party’s central command headquarters in the southern suburb of Beirut.
Hezbollah announced in a statement on Saturday that its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, had been killed as a result of an Israeli raid on the southern suburb of Beirut, after Israel had confirmed his assassination earlier.
Over the past few days, Israel has shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where a violent bombing campaign has led to the death of more than 700 people and the displacement of about 118,000.
The exchange of fire between the Iranian-backed party and the Hebrew state began about a year ago, the day after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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