US Secretary Antony Blinken denies reports that the United States had any prior knowledge of the deadly attack in Lebanon that saw hundreds of Hezbollah members’ pagers explode.
“The United States did not know about, nor was it involved in, these incidents. We’re still gathering the information and gathering the facts,” Blinken says at a press conference in Cairo.
“Broadly speaking we’ve been very clear and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza,” he says.
Blinken also says it is not yet clear what impact the explosions will have on the Iran-backed terror group’s operations.
According to the Axios news site, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin minutes before the attack to say that Israel was about to carry out an operation in Lebanon, but did not give specifics.
It cited a US official saying Gallant’s phone call was an attempt to avoid leaving the US completely in the dark.
Yesterday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also denied US involvement.
“The US was not involved in it. The US was not aware of this incident in advance, and at this point, we’re gathering information,” he said during a press briefing.
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Twelve people were killed and some 2,750 more were injured when pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded yesterday in an alleged attack by Israel.
source: timesofisrael.com/blinken-denies-us-had-advance-knowledge-of-hezbollah-pager-blasts-in-lebanon/
