Biden administration national security spokesman John Kirby said Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union” that the Israeli military action that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other senior officials “was good for the world. ” he said.
“I don't think anyone is saddened by the death of Mr. Nasrallah, who was known as a terrorist and had American blood and Israeli blood on his hands. This is a terrorist organization. He is the leader of it,” Kirby said. And I think people are safer without him walking around. But I think they're going to try to recover. We'll see what they're going to do to fill this leadership vacuum. We're looking at it. It's going to be tough with so much of their chain of command being wiped out now.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “Before President Obama ordered Seal Team 6 to take out bin Laden, there was talk of an airstrike on the facility, but the airstrike was not carried out because intelligence information was not certain. I made the decision not to do so.” And because they were worried, Obama was worried about civilian casualties. The Israelis wanted a different direction. It's clear that their intelligence was solid, but do you think Israel made the right decisions the way they did?”
“I think destroying Hezbollah's chain of command certainly works to Israel's advantage. It's actually good for the region and good for the world,” Kirby said.
He added: “The president continues to believe that there needs to be time and space for diplomacy, which means we hope a ceasefire can be reached to allow diplomacy to breathe.”
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