The United States says that if Israel were attacked, it would step in to defend it, raising concern the killings of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and senior Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in the last 24 hours will trigger an all-out war in the Middle East.
“You saw us do that in April, you can expect to see us do that again,” U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin told reporters Wednesday in Subic Bay, Philippines.
In April, the U.S. assisted Israel by helping to intercept Iranian missiles that rained down on the country in response to an Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria.
“But we don’t want to see [an escalation] happen,” said Austin. “We’re going to work hard to make sure that we’re doing things to help take the temperature down and address issues through diplomatic means.”
Austin wouldn’t confirm Israel was responsible for the attack that killed Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday.
Israel had pledged to kill him and other Hamas leaders after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the killing of some 1,200 people and the abduction of 250 others, but did not officially take responsibility for Haniyeh’s assassination.
Haniyeh was Hamas’s top negotiator involved in ceasefire talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.
On Facebook, the Israeli government’s press office posted an image of Haniyeh with the word “eliminated” pasted on his forehead.
WATCH | Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran, Iran says:
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on Wednesday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said. Hamas blamed Israel for the attack and Iran’s supreme leader vowed revenge against Israel.
Haniyeh had been living in exile in Qatar since 2019 and was in Iran for the inauguration of the country’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran’s supreme leader vowed revenge against Israel.
“We consider his revenge as our duty,” Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement on his official website. He said Israel had “prepared a harsh punishment for itself” by killing “a dear guest in our home.”
Israel hit Iranian embassy in April
Hamas’s military wing issued a statement, also raising fears of a larger war in the Middle East. It said the assassination “takes the battle to new dimensions and will have major repercussions on the entire region.”
In April, Israeli war planes bombed Iran’s embassy in Damascus, Syria, killing seven military advisers, including three senior commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Iran retaliated by launching more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. Most were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and with help from the U.S., Britain and Jordan. Israel responded by targeting an air defence facility in Isfahan, Iran, but international efforts succeeded in containing the situation before it turned into a larger conflagration.
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On Tuesday, less than 24 hours before Haniyeh’s death, Israel took out top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, also known as Sayyid Muhsan, in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Israeli military said the killing was retaliation for a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights three days earlier that killed 12 children.
Speaking in Singapore to Channel News Asia, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was not involved in the killing and had no prior knowledge of it.
He said their goal remains reaching a ceasefire to bring the Israeli hostages home and end Palestinian suffering in Gaza. Israel and Hamas are in the tenth month of a war that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians.
“[A ceasefire is] profoundly in the interest of trying to put things on a better path, not only in Gaza, but actually throughout the region, because so much is tied to what’s happening in Gaza right now.”
U.S. focused on ceasefire: Blinken
Blinken wouldn’t speculate on what impact the latest killing would have on reaching a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“I’ve learned over many years never to really speculate about that, because we simply don’t know. What I do know is the enduring imperative of getting the ceasefire. And what I do know is we’ll continue to work at that every day,” he said.
In Israel, the families of the remaining hostages are still optimistic a deal can be reached to bring their loved ones home. They held a rally in Jerusalem on Wednesday to mark 299 days in captivity.
“I know that Carmel and the people around her have done nothing wrong and they deserve to come home,” said Shay Dickmann, cousin of Israeli hostage Carmel Gat. “And I know that the way to bring back all of these people is a deal. A deal must be signed.”