Biden blames Hezbollah for triggering the past year of fighting

US President Joe Biden highlights how Hezbollah was the party that started the conflict against Israel hours after Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

“Israel did not launch this war. The Lebanese people did not seek that war either,” Biden says in remarks at the Rose Garden, lamenting how Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks have forced 70,000 Israelis to flee their homes in the north in addition to 30,000 Lebanese people who have similarly evacuated their country’s south as a result of IDF strikes.

He notes US security assistance for Israel against Iran and its proxies over the past 14 months.

Biden notes the extent of Hezbollah’s losses over the past year by joining the conflict against Israel — its longtime secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah was killed along with countless other senior leaders and major military infrastructure was destroyed.

While acknowledging Israel’s military gains, Biden insists that “lasting security for the people of Israel and Lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield.”