US says it was only tipped off by Israel on Beirut strike after planes were in the air
Israeli official appears to confirm as much, saying the heads-up only came minutes before Nasrallah was targeted; Biden says US wasn’t involved; Blinken hints at frustration over strike
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Israel only notified the US about the IDF’s major airstrike targeting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut after its planes were already in the air and the operation was in motion, a US official told The Times of Israel on Friday.
The revelation came shortly after Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as the strikes were taking place, indicating that Gallant was the Israeli official who updated Washington.
For their part, an Israel official with knowledge of the details said the US was told about the impending strike in Beirut several minutes before it was carried out, appearing to corroborate the account of the anonymous US official.
Shortly after being briefed by his national security team on the strike, US President Joe Biden told reporters, “We’re still gathering information. I can tell you the United States had no knowledge of, or participation in, the IDF actions… I’ll have more to say when I have more information.”
It was the latest effort by the Biden administration to quickly distance itself from a significant strike carried out by the IDF in the midst of Israel’s widening war.
Determined to prevent a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah — or worse, a regional war — Washington has responded identically to other Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, stressing that they weren’t involved or tipped off in advance.
But this did not stop Iran’s foreign minister from charging that the US was complicit in the IDF strike, pointing to Washington’s military support for Jerusalem
“One cannot disregard the US complicity in the crime,” Abbas Araghchi told the UN Security Council.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to hint at a degree of frustration in the decision Israel took to target Nasrallah.
“I will let Israel speak to their operations and their objectives, [but] we and many others have been clear about what we see to be the best path forward,” he said, referring to a diplomatic solution — as opposed to a military one — that would allow the return of some 60,000 Israelis who have been forced to evacuate their homes for nearly a year due to near-daily cross-border attacks by Hezbollah.
“It is a legitimate and important objective for Israel to again create an environment in which people can get back to their homes. The question is, what’s the best way to do that?” Blinken said.
“The events of the past week and the past two hours underscore what a precarious moment this is for the Middle East and for the world,” he added.
The secretary clarified that “Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. The way it does so matters. The choices that all parties make in the coming days will determine which path this region is on, with profound consequences for its people — now, and possibly for years to come.”
“The United States has made clear, along with the G7, European Union, partners in the Gulf, so many others, that we believe the way forward is through diplomacy, not conflict. The path to diplomacy may seem difficult to see at this moment, but it is there,” Blinken said. “We will continue to work intensely with all parties to urge them to choose that course.”
He closed his remarks on the subject by stressing, “I also want to be clear that anyone using this moment to target American personnel, American interests in the region. The United States will take every measure to defend our people.”
The Israeli operation appeared to have defied Washington’s calls for de-escalation and a ceasefire over the past week.
The US and France have proposed a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah, after a week of almost non-stop Israeli strikes that have devastated the Lebanese terror group’s senior command, on the heels of a wave of detonations of Hezbollah operatives’ communications devices, widely blamed on Israel.
The initiative is also aimed at providing time for a hostage release and ceasefire deal to come together in Gaza, where Israel is fighting the Hamas terror group, and for the brokering of an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah that sees the Iran-backed group withdraw its forces away from Israel’s northern border in line with a UN Security Council resolution.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Thursday that Israel “shares the aims” of the US-led initiative for a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah, after he was pilloried within his coalition for privately assenting to the plan and subsequently renounced it.
Netanyahu is in New York, having addressed the United Nations General Assembly around an hour before the strike. Following the strike, his office announced that he would return to Israel early, taking off on Friday night.
Asked what Austin may have communicated to Gallant given the Israeli strike’s potential impact on US efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Singh declined to offer specifics but said the defense secretary is always frank in his conversations with his Israeli counterpart.
“Look at just the engagements that the secretary and Minister Gallant have had over the last two weeks, speaking regularly. I think if there was any type of fracture in trust, you wouldn’t see those types of levels of calls and engagements occurring frequently,” Singh said when asked if the lack of advance notification by Israel indicated a lack of trust.
Agencies and Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
