Hezbollah leader’s killing creates another balancing act for Biden

By Kevin Liptak and MJ Lee, CNN

(CNN) — The death of Hassan Nasrallah has caught President Joe Biden in a bind: While no one in the White House shed any tears for the longtime Hezbollah leader, the Israeli airstrike that took him out has only worsened fears of an escalating conflict, something Biden says he’s actively working to avoid.

In the immediate aftermath of the operation, Biden was quick to alert the public that he hadn’t received any advance warning and wasn’t involved. It was only 24 hours later, after both Israel and Hezbollah had confirmed Nasrallah was killed, that Biden released a carefully worded statement declaring the death a “measure of justice” but repeating that his “aim is to de-escalate.”

For Biden, the moment amounts to another high-tension balancing act — this time, only six weeks before a US presidential election. Already at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the nearly yearlong war in Gaza, the president is now working to calm two fronts at a moment when his influence on Netanyahu’s decision-making appears to be at an all-time low.

Ahead of Friday’s strike, Netanyahu brushed off a ceasefire proposal brokered by the United States and France that called for a 21-day pause in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, infuriating American officials who had been led to believe he was on board.

Israel informed the US it was launching its major operation in Beirut only after it was underway — to the frustration of some American officials, who have grown weary at what they view as repeated examples of Netanyahu defying Biden’s public and private entreaties for restraint.

Speaking to reporters in Delaware on Friday, Biden emphasized he knew little about the operation.

“We’re still gathering information,” the president said. He repeated his fears — which have ebbed and flowed over the course of the past year, but are now at a high point — that a wider conflict could be on the horizon: “I’m always concerned about that,” he said.

Yet for all that concern, Israel’s target was undoubtedly someone the White House wanted dead.

“It’s welcome,” one senior administration official told CNN after both the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death.

“Nobody here is mourning Nasrallah,” another senior administration official said, referring to the Hezbollah leader as a “terrorist” and “killer.”

“Hassan Nasrallah was a terrorist with American blood on his hands,” wrote Vice President Kamala Harris in a statement released midday Saturday.

As of Saturday morning, it was simply too early to know what implications Nasrallah’s death would have in the region and on the looming possibility of a major escalation, one of the officials said.

The American posture for now is to be prepared for a range of possible retaliations — if and when they come — but whether such retaliation would come from Hezbollah, Iran or both was unknowable for now, they said.

The biggest question and concern for the Biden administration is what implications Nasrallah’s death will have in the coming days and weeks in the region, where the risk of escalation and a widening conflict was already high.

Had the events of the past few days taken place six months ago, the risk of a second major war might have been even greater, the first senior administration official said. But Hezbollah has been “decimated,” and Iran — which backs the militant group — has also been “much weakened,” the official said.

Over the last month, Israel has taken out Hezbollah weapons depots and seriously deteriorated its communication infrastructure, including in attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies.

Another senior US official previously told CNN that the US believes Iran will intervene in the conflict if its leaders determine that they are about to “lose” Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy group.

As of Saturday, the US had not seen indications that Iran was preparing for a major, sustained reprisal, according to officials, but acknowledged it was still early.

“Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means,” Biden wrote in his statement, released midday Saturday. “In Gaza, we have been pursuing a deal backed by the UN Security Council for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and southern Lebanon.”

“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 greater stability,” he said.

Biden on Saturday held a call with Harris and their national security team on the developments in the Middle East, the White House said.

“President Biden convened a call with Vice President Harris and their national security team to receive an update on the situation in the Middle East, review the status of US military force posture in the region, and direct continued diplomatic efforts to coordinate with allies and partners and deescalate the ongoing conflicts,” the White House said.

In a sign of US fears the situation could deteriorate quickly, the State Department on Saturday ordered certain employees and their family members to depart Lebanon as the conflict threatens to break out into all-out war.

The ordered departure of nonemergency personnel is not an evacuation of the entire embassy, but it does reflect the increased volatility in the country and its capital of Beirut.

The departure orders came only days after American officials voiced optimism at a “breakthrough” proposal they hoped would end the violence across the Israel-Lebanon border.

American officials’ confidence in announcing the proposal had been derived, in part, because they were dealing with Ron Dermer, one of Netanyahu’s closest confidants, as they wrote and revised the statement’s text. Discussions on the ceasefire began with a conversation Monday between Dermer and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser.

The impression the US officials received was that Netanyahu would support a pause in fighting, and they were encouraged to work with French officials to complete a statement that urged a 21-day ceasefire.

Top Biden administration officials were furious Thursday after Netanyahu brushed off the plan, prompting them to demand that the Israelis put out a public statement to remedy the diplomatic embarrassment.

Angry senior US officials were convinced that Netanyahu was reacting to backlash at home from far-right members of his government. Israeli officials, meanwhile, attributed the confusion to a “miscommunication.”

Whatever the case, by Friday any talk of an imminent ceasefire had quieted as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut.

CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.

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