White House says no one is "mourning the loss of Mr. Nasrallah"
While “nobody’s mourning Nasrallah’s death, we certainly do mourn any loss of civilian life,” US national security spokesperson John Kirby said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” after the Israeli strike in a densely populated neighborhood of Beirut killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“I don’t think anybody’s mourning the loss of Mr. Nasrallah, a known terrorist, a guy with American blood on his hands, as well as Israeli blood on his hands. This is a terrorist organization. He was the leader of it. And I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said.
When asked what the civilian death toll of the strike was, Kirby said, “We can’t quantify that right now.”
“We’re in touch with our Israeli counterparts about that. Each single civilian death is a tragedy. And, certainly, while, again, nobody’s mourning Nasrallah’s death, we certainly do mourn any loss of civilian life,” Kirby said.
Over 1,000 people have been killed since Israel’s attacks in Lebanon escalated last week, according to the Lebanese government. The strike that killed Nasrallah came in a series of blasts that flattened residential buildings in a crowded part of Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israel has accused Hezbollah of using civilians as “human shields.”
While Kirby would not comment on Israel’s decision-making process, he stressed the United States and President Joe Biden are continuing to push for diplomacy and a ceasefire.
“I think what we would agree on is that there needs to be an effort to de-escalate here,” he said.
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