John Kirby, a spokesman for national security at the White House, stated that he was not aware of any communication from Israel to the US prior to its strikes in Beirut on Friday. He also stated that US citizens were asked to either stay away from Lebanon or to leave if they were already there. Speaking to reporters, Kirby maintained that the Biden administration is working to prevent an escalation in the region but said he could not comment on the most recent strikes.
As hostilities continued along the Israeli-Lebanese border on Friday, following Israel’s most severe airstrikes in almost a year of combat with Hizbollah, UN peacekeepers in Lebanon called for a quick de-escalation. The Israeli military announced on Thursday that it had taken out hundreds of Hizbollah rocket launchers aimed at Israel. Security sources in Lebanon claimed that this was the biggest attack of its kind since hostilities started in October.
Over the past 12 hours, there has been “a heavy intensification of the hostilities” across the Lebanese-Israeli border and in the UNIFIL peacekeeping force’s area of operations, the force in charge of maintaining calm in south Lebanon stated early on Friday morning. Referring to the line that separates Lebanon and Israel, UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told Reuters, “We are concerned at the increased escalation across the Blue Line and urge all actors to immediately de-escalate”.
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