Biden pleads with Netanyahu in bid to avoid 'all-out war' as Israel strikes Yemen and Lebanon

29 September 2024, 20:47

President Joe Biden says he is set to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to avoid 'all-out war' in the Middle East.

"It has to be," Mr Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington.

"We really have to avoid it."

The president's statements come after dozens of Israeli aircraft targeted Houthi targets in Yemen - and the IDF continues to bomb Beirut.

The Yemen attacks are retaliation for a Houthi ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion airport in Israel on Saturday - when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving.

The Houthi media office said the Israelis strikes hit the Hodeida and Rass Issa ports along with two power plants in Hodeida city, which is a stronghold for the Iranian-backed rebels.

Read More: Israel kills seventh Hezbollah leader as airstrikes are launched against Yemen

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Four people were killed and 33 wounded, Houthi-run media reported.

Sunday morning also saw Israel conduct further strikes on Lebanon, with local reports claiming at least 15 people died.

The Israeli military said on Sunday it had killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The White House sees the death of Mr Nasrallah as a huge blow to the group.

At the same time, the administration has sought to tread carefully as it has tried to contain Israel's war with Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran, from exploding into an all-out regional conflict.

The tit-for-tat attacks come after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described a series of bombings in Beirut which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a "historic turning point".

"We have settled accounts with someone who was responsible for the murders of countless Israelis and many nationals of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French,” he said.

"Nasrallah was not just another terrorist, he was the terrorist. He was the axis of the axis, the main engine of Iran's axis of evil. He and his people were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel."

This comes as Israeli tanks gather on the country’s border with Lebanon, with the IDF reportedly considering an “expansion” in the region.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has held "an operational situation assessment" on what he called "the expansion of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) activities in the northern arena".

The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed on Saturday.

Hezbollah confirmed his death, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader killed in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades.