The Cradle / August 2, 2024
Iran, Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Ansarallah have all vowed to respond to recent Israeli attacks on their countries.
US President Joe Biden held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 1 August, discussing efforts to protect Israel from an upcoming Iranian retaliation for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on its soil just days ago.
The talks also touched on the response Hezbollah plans to carry out in retaliation to the brutal Israeli airstrike on Beirut on 30 July, as well as the threat from Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement.
The US president “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” according to the White House.
“The President discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive US military deployments,” the White House added.
Biden also stressed the need for “de-escalation.”
“The Biden administration is convinced Iran is going to attack Israel within days in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this week and is preparing to counter it,” US officials told Axios.
Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed a “harsh” response to Israel for the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran early on Wednesday. According to the New York Times, Khamenei has ordered the retaliation.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah also said in a speech on 1 August that the response to the strike on Beirut is coming. The attack on Tuesday killed top Hezbollah war commander Fuad Shukr and six others, including women and children, and injured over 80.
Last month, Ansarallah and Yemen’s Armed Forces said a response to the Israeli strike on the country’s Hodeidah port would be “inevitable.”
Washington has vowed to protect Israel from any attack.
The phone call between Biden and Netanyahu came on the same day that the US President told reporters that Haniyeh’s assassination negatively impacted ceasefire talks.
“It doesn’t help,” he said when asked how the killing would affect the talks. The talks have been significantly hindered, as Haniyeh was among those leading the negotiations.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on 31 July that Washington was not involved in the attack that killed Haniyeh. “This is something we were not aware of or involved in,” he said.
Many have speculated that during his recent trip to Washington, Netanyahu received a US green light for the attacks on Beirut and Tehran.
