US Reassures Israel of Support Amid Rising Tensions with Hezbollah
An Israeli air strike on a Hezbollah target in South Lebanon, May 5, 2024
Senior US officials assured top Israeli diplomats that the Biden administration stands ready to support Israel if a full-scale war erupts on its northern border with Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a CNN report Friday.
This comes amid escalating cross-border attacks that have heightened fears of another major conflict in the Middle East.
In a series of high-stakes meetings in Washington this week, the delegation of Israeli officials, which included Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, engaged in discussions with key figures in the Biden administration such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and White House Middle East Affairs Coordinator Brett McGurk.
Sources cited by CNN saidthat the discussions included “the situation on Israel’s northern border, Iran, and the ceasefire and hostage negotiations.”
A senior administration official told CNN that the US reiterated its commitment to providing the necessary security assistance to Israel, though it clarified that American troops would not be deployed on the ground.
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah has launched rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas, leading to the displacement of tens of thousands of people in northern Israel.
In response, US officials have repeatedly called for diplomatic efforts to prevent a full-scale war on Israel's northern front. This week, US envoy Amos Hochstein was dispatched to the region to assist in de-escalation efforts.
US officials expect the Netanyahu government to respond with full force if Hezbollah significantly expands the scope of its attacks on Israel that result in Israeli casualties.
The reassurances also come amidst a public dispute between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S., with Netanyahu accusing the U.S. of withholding military supplies. The face-to-face meetings in Washington aimed to address these tensions and reaffirm the strong U.S.-Israel alliance.
An airstrike has reportedly hit trucks carrying arms destined for Iran-backed militants in Syria's Bukamal, near the Iraqi border, killing one and injuring two, Syrian media and IRGC-backed groups say.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-backed militants that has been launching drone and rocket attacks against US and Israeli interests in the region over the past year, says a member of its Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada has been killed in the Friday airstrike on his car in an area close to the Syrian-Iraqi border.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says two other people were also wounded in the airstrike against the positions of Tehran-backed militants in Bukamal.
Syrian sources say "trucks carrying rockets and communication equipment" for Tehran-backed fighters were destroyed in the Friday attack.
The SOHR director said the attack targeted Sokkariyeh in the countryside of Bukamal, where "a gas station belonging to the Iranian militia is located".
The IRGC-affiliated Sabereen News has attributed the strike to the US military's drones or fighter jets.
Israel has repeatedly – almost regularly – struck these areas, often claiming to be destroying weapons storages or shipments.
However, the US has also launched airstrikes in this region, killing several high-ranking members of the IRGC and its allied groups in a recent retaliatory attack.
In early 2024, as the US and Qatar quietly extended the use of America’s largest military base in the Persian Gulf, they appeared united in their support for US military activities from Al Udeid Air Base.
This unity persisted until April, when the Islamic Republic of Iran launched a massive rocket and missile attack against Israel.
Qatar declared, according to an April report in the Iranian government-controlled media, that the US is barred from using its airspace in Qatar. Doha hosts key leaders of the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist designated organization.
In one of the starkest signs of Qatar impeding the US from defending its allies in the Mideast and American national security interests, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published on Thursday a scarcely noted 2012 interview with Qatar’s former Prime Minister Hamid bin Jassim, who said Qatari foreign policy prohibits military operations against Iran.
Hamad bin Jassim (HBJ) told the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera Network in an April 1, 2012 interview that “The Iranians and the Americans know that we oppose any military action against Iran." When asked by Al-Jazeera "Will the Americans ask for your permission?,” the former Prime Minister said "The Americans know that we will not accept any hostile action from Qatar, against any neighboring country, especially against Iran."
Al-Jazeera said, "There is now escalation between Iran and the US. Couldn't the Al-Udeid Air Base be used to...", prompting HBJ to stress "I have told you that we will not accept – I am saying this clearly and underlining it twice... We will not accept any hostile action against Iran from Qatar. Full stop."
HBJ’s statement appears to render the Al-Udeid base futile against one of America’s principal enemies, the Islamic Republic, which the US has consistently designated a state-sponsor of terrorism since 1984.
Rich Goldberg, who served on the National Security Council during the Trump administration, told Iran International, “There’s little value in having a base right next to our greatest threat in the region if a primary condition for having the base is that it can never be used to confront that threat.” Goldberg is a senior advisor for the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
When approached by Iran International for a comment, a US State Department spokesperson said, “We refer you to US CENTCOM for comment on Al Udeid. We refer you to the Government of Qatar for comment on their policy.”
However, in response to an Iran International press query CENTCOM, a US defense official, said " We have no additional information to provide as this topic is not a Department of Defense decision. Therefore, we defer you to the U.S. State Department for comment."
Iran International reported in October, after the Iran-backed Hamas movement invaded Israeli border regions and killed 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans, Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, asked Qatar’s defense minister for Doha to deny the US the use of its Al-Udeid airbase.
Qatar’s disruption of US military activity may have also weakened the US response to the Iran-backed militia, Kataib Hezbollah, in Iraq that murdered 3 US soldiers in Jordan in late January.
Retired US Navy Intelligence Commander, Jennifer Dyer, noted on her website, the “The Optimistic Conservative” in February, ”It’s possible that no Air Force strike-fighters from Al-Udeid participated. If that’s the case, the likely reason is that Qatar wouldn’t allow it.” Dyer added, “The silence from Al-Udeid doesn’t bode well...for the U.S. ‘option’ of attacking Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Doing that would involve a huge target set, not even so much for the nuclear weapons program itself as for neutralizing Iran’s air defenses and means of retaliation.”
Qatar and the Islamic Republic share the vast South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf and this may be a reason why the supremely opulent gas-rich nation of Qatar has gone to great lengths to not pick fights with Iran’s clerical regime.
The new MEMRI translation of HBJ’s Arabic-language interview sparked intense criticism from American and Israeli security experts.
Ezra A. Cohen, a former US Department of Defense official, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter,that “Every day it becomes more and more clear that Qatar is holding the United States hostage.”
The popular Israeli journalist and commentator, Caroline Glick, wrote on X “The Biden administration does not designate Qatar a state-sponsor of terrorism, despite the fact that it is one of the largest state sponsors of terrorism. No. The administration designated Qatar a major non-NATO ally, which it decidedly is not.”
Qatar is in the crosshairs of many US Senators and Congressional representatives for its support of the US-designated terrorist movement Hamas. There are increasing calls on Capitol Hill for Biden to reexamine America’s alliance with Qatar and consider the relocation of the Al-Udeid base to another state in the Mideast that is not embroiled in funding Islamist terrorist movements.
MEMRI president and founder, Yigal Carmon, argues that Qatar is the single largest state-enabler of both Sunni and Shiite Islamist terrorist movements across the globe. Carmon termed the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s government a “dishonest broker” who should not be involved in the effort to secure the release of Hamas held hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Qatar’s ambassador to the US, Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, did not respond to an Iran International press query. Iran International sent multiple email press queries to Qatar’s embassy in Washington.
Iran's mission to the UN in New York warned Israel on Friday about the consequences of waging a full-blown war on Tehran-backed Hezbollah of Lebanon.
A statement posted on the Iranian mission's X account said Hezbollah "has the capability to defend itself and Lebanon."
"Perhaps the time for the self-annihilation of this illegitimate regime has come," it said.
"Any imprudent decision by the occupying Israeli regime to save itself could plunge the region into a new war, the consequence of which would be the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure as well as that of the 1948 occupied territories," the Iranian mission warned.
It also called Israel the "ultimate loser" of the possible war.
The statement came after Israeli officials told the US they are planning to shift resources from southern Gaza to northern Israel in preparation for a possible offensive against Hezbollah.
Tel Aviv has communicated to the US concerns of the vulnerability of Israeli air defense against precision-guided munitions and missiles from Iran-backed Hezbollah, three US officials have told CNN.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday that his forces, armed and trained by Iran, can target anywhere in Israel, in the event of a full-blown war.
In his televised speech Wednesday, Nasrallah said “there will be no place safe from our missiles and our drones” in Israel.
One day earlier, the Hezbollah-affiliated outlets had published footage that they claimed were shot by a drone flying over residential and military sites deep in Israeli territory.
The Lebanese group is widely believed to have amassed more than 100,000 missiles, and its leader has repeatedly boasted about weapons that he claims have not been used so far in its eight months of low-key but constant fighting with Israel.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets at Israel in solidarity with fellow Iran-backed militant group Hamas since the Gaza war erupted in October, forcing tens of thousands to flee homes in Israel.
US officials are worried the Iran-backed Hezbollah of Lebanon may overwhelm Israel’s air defense including the Iron Dome as Israel reportedly prepares for a full-blown land and air incursion into Lebanon.
Tel Aviv has communicated to the US concerns of the vulnerability of Israeli air defense against precision-guided munitions and missiles from Iran-backed Hezbollah, three US officials have told CNN.
The Iron Dome is commonly recognized as Israel's primary defense against missiles and rockets.
Israeli officials have told the US they are planning to shift resources from southern Gaza to northern Israel in preparation for a possible offensive against the group, US officials told CNN on Wednesday.
“We assess that at least some” Iron Dome batteries “will be overwhelmed,” a senior US administration official told the CNN.
Back in April when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired hundreds of missiles and drones against Israel, the IDF spokesperson said it had intercepted 99 percent of the missiles.
However, the Islamic Republic’s armed forces chief called the attack a successful one that had achieved all of its objectives.
Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations has denied supporting its Yemeni militia, the Houthis, calling the claim "unfounded".
Amir Saeid Iravani voiced his criticism of the US claims in letters addressed to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council on Wednesday amid the Houthis' blockade of the Red Sea region.
The denial followed a statement from Robert Wood, the US representative at the UN, who told a Security Council briefing on Yemen in June that Iran continues to support and enable Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, violating the arms embargo.
Wood emphasized that “Iran should not be permitted to hide behind the Houthis. It must comply with the Council’s resolutions and cease its provision of weapons.”
Iravani, in his response, wrote: “On numerous occasions, Iran has made it clear that it is committed to the Security Council's relevant resolutions on the situation in Yemen and has not engaged in activities contravening these resolutions.”
However, Iran arms, trains and funds the militia, which has been at the heart of a decade-long civil war in Yemen.
Since November, the Houthis, who control Yemen's capital and its most populous regions, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
During this period, they have conducted over 60 targeted attacks on specific vessels and launched additional missiles and drones, resulting in the deaths of four sailors and kidnap of dozens more.
The attacks commenced following a call from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in early November for Muslim nations to blockade Israeli trade.
