US Will Help Defend Israel if Attacked, Pentagon Says as Hamas Chief Killed

The U.S. will defend Israel from incoming attacks, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said, as Israeli strikes kill two senior Iran-backed commanders and fears spike over wider conflict breaking out in the Middle East.

"If Israel is attacked, we certainly will help defend Israel," U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, told the media aboard the USNS Millinocket during a visit to the Philippines. "You saw us do that in April; you can expect to see us do that again," he said.

The U.S., along with other Israeli allies like the U.K. and France, were involved in intercepting an unprecedented Iranian drone and missile barrage fired at Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen in mid-April. "We helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles," U.S. President Joe Biden said at the time.

Washington has said it does not want to see escalation in the region, and the U.S. will "work hard to make sure that we're doing things to help take the temperature down, and address issues through diplomatic means," Austin said. But fears over escalation have been fueled by Israel saying late on Tuesday that it had carried out a "targeted strike" on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and killed a senior Hezbollah commander.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described Fuad Shukr as "the right-hand man" to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed political party and militant group. Shukr was responsible for a deadly attack on a soccer field in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights at the weekend that killed 12 children and teenagers, Hagari said.

Hezbollah denied involvement in the attack. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson blamed Lebanon-based Hezbollah, adding: "It was their rocket, and launched from an area they control."

Shukr has "the blood of Israelis and many others on his hands," Hagari said. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted similar remarks to social media.

Hezbollah said that Shukr was in the building that was struck in Beirut on Tuesday but did not confirm his death.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across Israel's northern border into southern Lebanon for months.

Hezbollah has pledged solidarity with Palestinian militant group Hamas—designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.—which launched a lethal attack on Israel on October 7 that the Israelis said killed more than 1,200 people, many of which were civilians. More than 200 hostages were taken from Israel into the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by Hamas for more than a decade. More than 100 are still thought to be in Gaza, a third of whom are presumed dead.

Israel, vowing to eradicate Hamas, has spent months carrying out extensive ground operations and a near-constant campaign of airstrikes on Gaza, which had been one of the world's most densely populated areas. The war has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians since October, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health authorities, with huge humanitarian concerns raised by the international community. Efforts to secure a ceasefire have so far failed.

Just hours after Israel reported the strike on Shukr in Lebanon, Hamas said that Ismail Haniyeh, the organization's chief political leader, was killed in an Israeli strike in Tehran after attending the inauguration ceremony of Iran's new president.

Iranian state media reported early on Wednesday that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were assassinated in their residence in the Iranian capital. Haniyeh was born in Gaza but was based in Qatar.

Israel's military declined to comment.

Nasser Kanaani, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, said Haniyeh's death would "reinforce the deep and unbreakable bonds between the Islamic Republic of Iran and dear Palestine and resistance."

It is "Tehran's duty" to avenge Haniyeh's death, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said on Wednesday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Channel News Asia during a visit to Singapore on Wednesday that the U.S. was "not aware of or involved in" the assassination of Haniyeh.

The Hamas chief's assassination "marks a new phase of brinkmanship in the wider context of the Israel-Hamas conflict," said Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East Security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank.

"It will have ripple effects across the region," Ozcelik said.

The two assassinations will force Tehran to "respond in a way that is deemed proportionate, but without going as far as to risk irreversible material damage and losses to Hezbollah," which it sees as a "more strategic asset than Hamas."

Update 7/31/24, 7:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Update 7/31/24, 9:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from Israel's military.