Joe Biden has hailed Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah as “justice” for his many victims, as Iran confirmed one of its top generals died alongside the Hezbollah leader.
The US president said Washington “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself”, and the air strike that killed Nasrallah was revenge for the deaths of “thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese civilians”.
Mr Biden, 81, has ordered the deployment of more US forces to the Middle East in an effort to prevent any retaliation from Iran.
The assassination of one of Israel’s leading foes has sent shockwaves through the region and raised fears of a spill-over into all-out war.
But on Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, Hezbollah’s key sponsor, suggested he would not escalate the conflict.
Khamenei, who went into hiding after Nasrallah’s death on Friday afternoon, called on Muslims to “stand by the people of Lebanon” but made no specific threat to mobilise Iran’s own forces.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s state-news service confirmed that Abbas Nilforushan, a top general in its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who led operations in Lebanon, was also killed in the bombing.
Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, Israel’s top army general, said Israel would continue its efforts to destroy Hezbollah and its other enemies altogether.
“This is not the end of our toolbox,” he said. “We have more capacity going forward. Anyone who threatens the state of Israel, we will know how to reach them.”
On Friday, Israel hacked the air traffic control tower of Beirut’s international airport to warn a plane arriving from Iran to turn back.
The IDF warned it was prepared to shoot down any aircraft bringing in cargo or weaponry for Hezbollah.
Israeli jets carried out another air strike on Saturday targeting a warehouse near the airport.
In a statement confirming the death of Nasrallah, Hezbollah said it would “continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine”.
Hezbollah fired several small volleys of rockets at Israel on Friday but caused no damage. Yemen’s Houthis, another Iranian proxy group, also fired missiles at Israel that were intercepted by air defence systems.
The welter of blows Israel has delivered to Hezbollah in recent weeks have the potential to reshape the Middle East, analysts said.
“The recent strikes have broken the back of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful proxy force, just as Israel has done with Hamas,” Mohsen Sazegara, one of the founders of the IRGC, told The Telegraph.
“Nasrallah’s killing is going to cause irreversible damage for Hezbollah and I don’t think it will be able to recover from it,” added Lina Khatib, associate fellow at Chatham House, the international affairs think tank.
“I think we are seeing both a historic shift in Hezbollah’s power and a historic shift in the trajectory of Iran’s influence in the Middle East.”
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli Defense Forces’ chief spokesman, said the world was a “safer place” after Nasrallah’s death.
In 1994, two years after Nasrallah took control of Hezbollah, he ordered a suicide attack on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding more than 300.
In Beirut, supporters of Hezbollah broke down in tears when news of his death was confirmed. “Oh God!” one woman said in Martyrs’ Square in the centre of the Lebanese capital as she fell to her knees.
Opponents of the Lebanese terror group’s hold on the nation disagreed. “It is a step in the right direction,” said Nasri, a shopkeeper in predominantly Christian eastern Beirut.
Mr Biden’s statement of support for the strike, which killed at least 11 people according to Lebanon’s health ministry, and flattened several high-rise buildings, followed pressure from Israel.
On Friday, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, requested that the US issue public statements and deploy troops to warn Tehran against retaliation, the Israeli website Walla News reported.
On Saturday, the Pentagon issued a statement saying: “Defense Secretary [Lloyd] Austin emphasised that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and its partners from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict in the region.”
In his statement, Mr Biden also repeated his calls for Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas to come to a peace agreement. “It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain stability,” he said.
Hezbollah possesses a large arsenal of long-range missiles, but Israel’s strikes have destroyed a significant proportion and Iran is reported to want to keep the weapons in reserve for any conflict involving threats to its own safety.