ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - United States President Joe Biden on Saturday, in a statement on the assassination of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, reiterated his support for Israel, while regional leaders condemned the deadly Israeli airstrikes.
Nasrallah’s “death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians,” read a statement from Biden.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than 30 years, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a residential neighbourhood on Friday. People fled southern Beirut in the middle of the night as Israel carried out additional airstrikes.
In his statement, Biden reiterated his support for Israel’s “right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.”
The US president added that he directed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to “further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war.”
Eleven people were killed and more than 100 others were injured in the Israeli strikes, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a news conference on Saturday afternoon.
Following confirmation of Nasrallah’s death, leaders in the Middle East were quick to issue statements.
“The Islamic world has lost a great figure; the Resistance front has lost a prominent flag bearer; and Hezbollah Lebanon has lost a rare leader,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a statement.
He vowed that the Iran-backed resistance forces would retaliate.
“The blows of the Resistance front against the decaying and collapsing Zionist regime will only intensify. The vile nature of the Zionist regime has not achieved victory in this incident,” he said.
Khamenei declared five days of mourning across Iran.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the surge of Israeli aggression.
“As a result of Israel's brutal attacks, many Lebanese, including children, have been massacred in the last week. No one with a conscience can accept, excuse or justify such a massacre,” Erdogan said on X.
“Israel's attempts to spread the insane politics it implemented in Gaza and Ramallah to Lebanon and other countries in the region must now be stopped,” he added.
He called on the United Nations Security Council and human rights organizations to “take swift actions” against Israel.
In Iraq, the government condemned the killing of Hezbollah's leader and urged the international community to end the expanding conflict.
“The criminal act that targeted the southern suburbs [of Beirut] yesterday expresses a reckless desire to expand the conflict at the expense of the peoples of the region, their security, and their stability,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said in a statement.
The Iraqi prime minister declared a three-day period of national mourning for Nasrallah.
Iraq's highest Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani paid tribute to Nasrallah.
"Martyr Nasrallah played a remarkable role in the victory over the Israeli occupation by liberating Lebanese territories and supported the Iraqis with everything at his disposal in liberating their country from the ISIS [Islamic State] terrorists," read a statement from his office.
Syria also issued a condemnation.
“While the Syrian Arab Republic condemns this Israeli criminal act in the strongest terms, it expresses its condolences to brotherly Lebanon and to all the free people around the world for the martyrdom of the leader of the Lebanese national resistance,” read a statement from the foreign ministry.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has intensified since October 7, when Palestinian Hamas militants launched a large-scale incursion into southern Israel, killing more than 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures. Israel responded with a massive ongoing offensive on Gaza, killing over 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel has also stepped up its strikes in Lebanon and parts of Syria over the past year, targeting Hezbollah and Iranian personnel.
In Lebanon, 1,640 people have been killed since October 8 last year, according to the health ministry.
