(Bloomberg) — Israel pressed ahead with its campaign against Hezbollah militants with clashes in southern Lebanon and airstrikes targeting Beirut, as the US and its allies braced for Israeli retaliation against Iran for a ballistic-missile barrage earlier this week.
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Nine people died in the center of the Lebanese capital after an Israeli strike on a medical site affiliated with Hezbollah, local authorities said. The Israel Defense Forces said it killed 15 Hezbollah militants in an overnight attack on a building used by the group, and ordered civilians in some areas to leave immediately.
Even as the fighting surged, international attention focused on the timing and scope of Israel’s expected response to the Iranian missile strike on Tuesday. While that attack caused little damage, Israel and the US both said it was an unacceptable escalation and Israel would respond.
President Joe Biden fueled uncertainty about what would come next on Thursday when he was asked if the US would support attacks on Iranian oil facilities.
“We’re discussing that,” Biden told reporters outside the White House. “I think that would be a little – anyways.”
Oil surged on Biden’s comments, which suggested a possible move to target energy infrastructure was still on the table. That contrasted to earlier — and more strident — remarks in which Biden said the US wouldn’t support Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear program. Biden also said he didn’t expect Israeli retaliation to come within the next day.
The National Security Council didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment to clarify Biden’s comments. The US and its allies have been working to shape Israel’s response to the Tuesday attack with the goal of striking back at Iran while also avoiding further tit-for-tat escalation that could pull the US and other nations into an all-out regional war.
“I have zero doubt that Israel is going to move militarily,” said David Makovsky, director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The US can maybe have influence in impacting the scope of the Israeli response, but it is not going to be decisive about whether Israel hits or not.”
Israel has carried out a series of devastating attacks in Lebanon since last month that almost wiped out the leadership of Hezbollah, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Iran’s main proxy militia is considered a terrorist organization by the US and other countries. Iran said its salvo against Israel was because of those assaults and the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Tehran in July, which the Islamic Republic blamed on Israel.
On Thursday, the Lebanese army said an Israeli strike against one of its posts in the south of the country killed a soldier. Israel said Wednesday eight of its troops were killed in battles against Hezbollah, its first casualties since starting a ground incursion earlier this week.
Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Monday in a bid to uproot Hezbollah militants along the border. Hundreds of Lebanese civilians have died in Israeli air strikes in the past two weeks and a million people have fled their homes in the south and some other parts of the country, Lebanon’s government says.
The European Union announced it’s increasing humanitarian aid for Lebanon by 30 million euros ($33 million) to more than 100 million euros a year.
Netanyahu has widespread support domestically for the ground and air offensive in Lebanon, which is also an effort to ensure tens of thousands of displaced Israelis can return to their homes in the north.
The prime minister is under pressure from Israelis to respond far more forcefully to Iran’s salvo than he did in April. Israel hit an Iranian military facility in a limited strike that month, after Tehran fired 300 missiles and drones that were largely intercepted and did little damage.
–With assistance from Kateryna Kalashnikova “Kate”, Omar Tamo and Dana Khraiche.
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