Pentagon furious with Israel following the deadly strike that killed the Hezbollah leader American warships reportedly targeted in complex Houthi attack
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was “furious” with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant when he learned at the last moment that Israel was about to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Jerusalem Post has reported.
Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike on his underground compound in Beirut on Friday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that 20 senior Hezbollah officers were killed alongside Nasrallah, while the number of civilian casualties remains unclear.
Lloyd Austin (L) and Yoav Gallant speak during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 13, 2023 © Getty Images / Chad J. McNeeley
The US immediately denied any role in the strike. President Joe Biden said that he had “no knowledge” that Israel was planning the attack, while Austin told reporters that he had “no advance warning,” and only spoke to Gallant “while the operation was actually already underway.”
Citing anonymous sources, the Jerusalem Post claimed on Sunday that Austin was “furious” at the lack of notice he was given by Gallant. Austin and Gallant have spoken by phone more than 125 times since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last year, the newspaper stated, adding that the US defense chief “essentially lost it with Gallant over the Nasrallah killing and the short notice provided.”
“Nasrallah was a bad guy, but it is frustrating that the Israelis are doing this without consulting us and then ask that we clean up when it comes to deterring Iran,” an anonymous US official told the news site Axios on Saturday. According to Axios’ sources, Gallant asked Austin to issue public statements to deter Iran from launching a retaliatory attack against Israel following Nasrallah’s death.
Whatever Austin told Gallant in private, he dutifully complied with this request. In a readout of another phone call with Gallant on Saturday, the Pentagon said that Austin “stressed that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict.”
US Navy Spruance Class destroyer. © Getty Images / Mai
“The Secretary made it clear that the United States remains postured to protect US forces and facilities in the region and committed to the defense of Israel,” the readout continued.
Nasrallah was killed just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected an American- and French-authored ceasefire proposal, which called on Israel to halt its attacks on Lebanon for 21 days to allow for talks between West Jerusalem and Hezbollah. According to American and other Western officials, Netanyahu had agreed to the proposal several days earlier, before abruptly backtracking and vowing to keep striking Lebanon “with full force.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed that US Navy ships were attacked with a combined drone and cruise missile strike launched by Yemeni Houthis. Earlier in the day, the military group claimed to have struck three US destroyers heading toward Israel in the Red Sea.
“We did see a complex attack launched by the Houthis that ranged from cruise missiles to UAVs,” she said at a press briefing on Friday. “My understanding is that those were either engaged and shot down or failed; at no time did any hit a US ship.”
The Houthis targeted three US Navy destroyers that were “supporting Israel” with 23 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone, according to Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, which cited the group’s spokesman on Friday. He claimed that all three ships suffered direct hits and added that the attack was carried out with a simultaneous missile and drone launch at targets in Israel.
These operations “will not stop until the aggression on Gaza and Lebanon stops,” the spokesman said.
The Yemeni armed group has been attacking ships it associates with Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since October of last year, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israeli operation in the enclave.
Houthi attacks on shipping traversing one of the world’s busiest shipping straits have prompted the US and its allies to form an international naval coalition and deploy warships to the region, although the group has continued its assaults. This year’s Western and Israeli bombings of Yemen have also apparently left the group largely undeterred.
Following recent escalations between Hezbollah and Israel, the Houthis have added to their list of demands an end to Israeli aggression against Lebanon.
Although the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel have routinely exchanged fire since the beginning of the war in Gaza, hostilities spiked in early September after thousands of hand-held devices detonated across Lebanon, killing dozens and injuring thousands. Israel subsequently announced a “new phase” in its war in Gaza and intensified airstrikes on Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah assets.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, more than 1,300 people have been killed in the Israeli bombings as of Friday.
Source X/RT/AP