Killing of Nasrallah

The USA rejoices, other states fume with rage

The shock is deep in the Middle East.

(Bild: AP/Vahid Salemi)

US President Joe Biden on Saturday described the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, by Israel as "a measure of justice" for its many victims. Other state leaders take a completely different view ...

Biden said the United States fully supported Israel's right to defend itself against Iranian-backed groups. The US president also reported that he had instructed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to further improve the defensive posture of US forces in the Middle East to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a major war.

Ultimately, the US is seeking to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means, he said.

Iran, which is allied with Hezbollah, condemned the Israeli attack on Nasrallah as a war crime. "The Zionist attacks are a clear war crime and the West's reaction to them is an indictment," said President (head of government) Masoud Pezeshkian, according to the presidential office's web portal. He accused the USA of having authorized the attack and thus being complicit in Nasrallah's death.

Iran backs Hezbollah
"Although this act of terrorism by the Zionists has left a deep wound, it has further strengthened the resistance," said the president. Iran continues to stand by Hezbollah and the "anti-Israeli resistance front". Like Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei before him, Pezeshkian described the terrorist militia Hezbollah as "invincible".

Mourning in Tehran

(Bild: AFP/ATTA KENARE)

A state-organized mourning ceremony for Nasrallah took place in the capital Tehran on Saturday afternoon. Khamenei declared five days of national mourning for the slain militia leader.

Sharp criticism from the Kremlin
Russia condemned the killing of Nasrallah by Israel. The Foreign Ministry warned of "even more dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East" and called on Israel to cease its attacks on targets in Lebanon. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called it a "political assassination". "The methods of political assassinations, which have become almost routine, as was the case again yesterday in Beirut, are extremely alarming," he said.

Turkey, China and Germany also criticized Israel's attacks on Lebanon, without mentioning Nasrallah by name. The latest Israeli attacks in Lebanon were part of a policy of "genocide, occupation and invasion", wrote Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the short message service X. The UN Security Council and other bodies must put a stop to Israel, he said.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi indirectly condemned the escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in his speech at the United Nations General Debate. "Fighting has resumed in Lebanon, but power cannot replace justice," Wang said in New York just hours after Nasrallah's death was confirmed by an Israeli airstrike. He did not explicitly mention Israel.

Restraint from Berlin
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the situation in the Middle East following the death of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah as "extremely dangerous" and clearly criticized Israel's actions. "It threatens to destabilize the whole of Lebanon. And that is in no way in the interests of Israel's security," said the Green politician on the ARD program "Bericht aus Berlin" on Saturday.

There was a danger that the entire region would slide further into a spiral of violence. That is why Germany, together with the USA, France and a number of Arab countries, called for a 21-day ceasefire in the Middle East in New York on Thursday in order to achieve a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

"The opposite has now happened," said Baerbock. "And now with the latest reports, we have to say clearly: the military logic is one thing, with a view to destroying Hezbollah terrorists. But the security logic is another."