A Pentagon spokesman said Friday that the United States had no prior warning of the Israeli attack in Beirut and that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken to his Israeli counterpart.
They were the first US government comments about an Israeli operation that defied Washington’s calls for de-escalation and a ceasefire.
“The United States was not involved in this operation and we had no advance warning,” spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Singh declined to say what Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant told Austin about the operation and whether it targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Pentagon declined to speculate on whether Nasrallah was still alive.
Austin and Gallant spoke as the Pentagon chief flew over the Atlantic following a visit to London.
The Biden administration is trying to prevent the crisis from escalating further. Austin has publicly warned that an all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah would be disastrous. On Thursday he warned that risks existed but added that a diplomatic solution was still viable.
“We now face the threat of all-out war. Another full-scale war could be devastating to both Israel and Lebanon,” Austin told reporters Thursday.
Asked what Austin might have told Gallant given the potential impact of an Israeli attack on U.S. efforts to ensure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Singh declined to provide specifics, but said the defense secretary would Always candid in conversations with Israeli counterpart.
“Look at the engagements that have taken place between the Secretary and Minister Gallant over the past two weeks, with regular conversations. I think if there had been any kind of fracture in trust, you would have had those types of calls and conversations over and over again. ,” Singh said when asked whether the lack of advance notification by Israel indicated a lack of confidence.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, shaking the Lebanese capital and sending thick clouds of smoke over the city.
News outlet Axios, citing an Israeli source, said Nasrallah was the target of the attack and that the Israeli military was investigating whether he was hit.
A source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive, while Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported that he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was investigating his situation.
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