US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vowed on Tuesday that the United States will come to Israel’s defense if the Jewish state is attacked by Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed terrorist organization based in Lebanon.

“We would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion,” Austin told reporters after meetings in Manila with senior Philippine officials. “If Israel is attacked, yes, we will we help Israel defend itself. We’ve been clear about that from the very beginning.”

Austin’s comment came as tensions continued to escalate between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel on Tuesday targeted Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, with an air strike in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday and reportedly believes it killed the long-time terrorist leader. The Algemeiner could not independently confirm Shukr’s current status.

The Israeli strike was a response to a Hezbollah rocket attack over the weekend on a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a small Druze town in the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria. The attack from southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah exerts major political and military influence, killed 12 children. The Jewish state vowed that Hezbollah would pay a “heavy price” for the strike.

Although many observers have expressed fear that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could soon spiral out of control, Austin argued that a full-scale war was not inevitable.

“I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable,” Austin told reporters.

Austin’s comments echoed sentiments from the White House, which said that the likelihood of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah is “exaggerated.” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration is “confident” that such a conflict full-scale war between the Jewish state and the Iran-backed terrorist group will be avoided.

Nonetheless, Hezbollah has indicated that it will retaliate after Israel’s defensive strike on Tuesday. The terrorist group has thus far reportedly rejected requests from international envoys not to respond to the Israeli operation.

“International envoys are indirectly raising with us the idea that we should not respond to the expected aggression under the pretext of the need to avoid escalation and sliding towards a comprehensive war,” a Hezbollah official said, according to Reuters. The official added that Hezbollah had “informed them of our explicit rejection of this request” and would respond.

Hezbollah has pummeled northern Israeli communities with a barrage of missiles, rockets, and drones in the months following the Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel perpetrated by Hamas, another Iran-backed terrorist group. Estimates suggest that Hezbollah, an Iranian-proxy terrorist organization, has fired between 100-200 missiles into northern Israel nearly every day since Oct. 7.

More than 80,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate Israel’s north in October due to the unrelenting attacks. The majority of those spent the past nine months residing in hotels in other areas of Israel.

Nevertheless, the US State Department said it’s working to find a diplomatic solution to avoid further escalation.

“We’re continuing to work toward a diplomatic resolution that would allow Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return to their homes and live in peace and security. We certainly want to avoid any kind of escalation,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a press briefing on Tuesday.

Patel added that American support for the Jewish state will remain “ironclad.”

“Israel has every right to defend itself,” Patel said, noting that the Jewish state “certainly faces threats like no other country does in that region of the world.”

During his address to a joint session of the US Congress last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that although he would prefer to reach a diplomatic resolution to the conflict with Lebanese Hezbollah, the Jewish state is willing to use force to defend itself.

“We prefer to achieve this diplomatically. But let me be clear: Israel will do whatever it must do to restore security to our northern border and return our people safely to their homes,” Netanyahu said.

The post US Defense Chief Says ‘We Will Help Israel’ if Attacked as Washington Scrambles to Stave Off Hezbollah War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Iran‘s new president Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in on Tuesday, after winning an election earlier this month by promising to improve ties with the world and ease restrictions on social freedoms at home.

“We will pursue constructive and effective interaction with the world based on dignity, wisdom, and expediency,” Pezeshkian, an allegedly relative moderate, told a parliament session attended by foreign dignitaries and broadcast live on state television.

His victory has lifted hopes of a thaw in Iran‘s antagonistic relations with the West that might create openings for defusing its nuclear standoff with world powers.

But Pezeshkian takes office at a time of escalating Middle East tensions over Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza and cross-border fighting with Iran‘s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran, which backs the groups which describe themselves as the “Axis of Resistance” to Israel and US influence in the Middle East, has accused the United States of supporting what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza.

“Those who supply weapons that kill children cannot teach Muslims about humanity,” Pezeshkian said to chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

Leaders of Iran‘s Palestinian allies Hamas and the Islamic Jihad as well as senior representatives of Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi movement and Lebanon’s Hezbollah attended the ceremony. All four groups are internationally designated terrorist groups.

Pezeshkian, who is expected to name his cabinet within two weeks, replaces hardline Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.

As the ultimate authority in Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say in all state matters, including foreign and nuclear policy.

He must also approve Pezeshkian’s selections for key cabinet posts, such as the foreign, oil, and intelligence ministers.

As well as mounting pressure from the West over Tehran’s fast-advancing nuclear program, Pezeshkian faces the huge task of breaking Iran free of crippling US sanctions, reimposed after Washington ditched Iran‘s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the nuclear accord with six major powers have stalled since 2022, with both sides accusing the other of unreasonable demands.

“My government will never succumb to bullying and pressure … Pressure and sanctions do not work … and the Iranian people should be spoken to with respect,” said Pezeshkian.

The post Iranian President Sworn in With Chants of ‘Death to America, Israel’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

The Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is urging presumptive US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris not to select Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) as her running mate, citing his support for Israel as a key reason. 

The local DSA chapter issued a statement this past weekend on the “ongoing media blitz for Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.” The organization argued that Shapiro’s alleged failure to fight for “Palestinian rights” and his support for the “Zionist project in Palestine” should disqualify him from consideration for the Democratic presidential ticket. 

“To win in November, Kamala Harris and the Democrats need a vice president who will fight for Palestinian rights, back public schools, protect workers, and defend free speech. Governor Shapiro isn’t hitting those high notes,” DSA wrote. 

“Governor Shapiro is an outspoken supporter of the Zionist project in Palestine, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians and the displacement of millions more,” DSA added. 

Shapiro, a practicing Jew, has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel. In the days following Hamas’ brutal slaughter of roughly 1,200 people across southern Israel on Oct. 7, Shapiro issued statements condemning the Palestinian terrorist group and gave a speech at a local synagogue. The governor also ordered the US and Pennsylvania Commonwealth flags to fly at half mast outside the state capitol to honor the victims.  

Shapiro has condemned protests against Israeli- and Jewish-owned businesses in Pennsylvania as “antisemitic” and resisted demands to call for a “ceasefire” in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The governor revised the state codes of conduct to bar government employees from participating in “scandalous or disgraceful” behavior.

DSA claimed that Shapiro’s disapproval of the anti-Israel protests that erupted on US university campuses this past spring made him unfit for the Democratic presidential ticket, arguing that his opposition indicated a lack of support for free speech rights.  

“Governor Shapiro regularly equates anti-Zionism and organizing against the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to antisemitism,” DSA continued. “He’s also compared student protestors to the Ku Klux Klan — a wild comparison — and has been busy fighting against the right to boycott and curtailing free speech. Plus, let’s not forget his love for cracking down on peaceful encampments in our city.”

During an April interview with CNN host Jake Tapper, Shapiro forcefully condemned the pro-Hamas protests on university campuses, questioning “whether or not we would tolerate this if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia, making comments about people who are African American in our communities.”

Shapiro also criticized then-University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill for her unwillingness to punish anti-Israel demonstrators, some of whom declared support for Hamas, called for the destruction of Israel, and even threatened members of the campus’ Jewish community.

DSA asserted that “Shapiro’s pro-war stance, anti-Palestinian views” will alienate the “young and diverse voters who Kamala Harris’ bid for president has revitalized.”

“We will continue to call on Harris and Democrats to push for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine and to adopt a progressive agenda to energize their base and beat back the looming threat of fascism,” DSA wrote. “Josh Shapiro is not the right man for this job. To keep the momentum going, the Democrats must select a candidate who is strong on these issues.”

DSA, a left-wing political organization that counts members of the US Congress among its ranks, recently pulled its endorsement of US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) over what it described as insufficient support for the Palestinian cause.

The decision came about two weeks after a caucus affiliated with DSA issued a public endorsement of Hamas.

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