We must avoid a full-scale war, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday, referring to the Israel-Lebanon conflict. He announced that he would immediately discuss this issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden commented on Israel’s conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah in a brief meeting with the press before flying from Delaware to Washington.

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When asked whether a full-scale war could be avoided after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, Biden replied:

We really need to avoid this.

He announced that he would discuss the issue with Israel’s head of government, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the White House would report shortly thereafter. He did not specify whether those conversations would take place on Sunday.

Earlier, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, spoke similarly about the conflict and stated in an interview for CNN that an escalation of the war would not allow Israelis to return to the border region more quickly. Towns on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border were evacuated shortly after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel; Since then, Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon, has regularly attacked Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian group, which has been met with harsh counterattacks.

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli bombings killed at least 66 people in the country on Sunday. According to the Israeli army, the latest wave of attacks hit 45 locations linked to the group in the south of the country, including weapons warehouses. Earlier, another airstrike was reported in the southern Beirut district of Dahije, which is Hezbollah’s stronghold. The military added that in the afternoon, Hezbollah fired around 20 rockets into northern Israel. Most were shot down, there were no reports of losses or casualties. The Iran-backed Lebanese group confirmed the attack, noting that the target was the city of Safed.

Protests in Islamabad and Karachi

Several thousand people gathered on the streets of Islamabad and Karachi on Sunday to protest the killing of the leader of the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, by Israeli soldiers. Pakistani authorities accused the Jewish state of “escalating adventurism.”

Nearly 4,000 people gathered in Islamabad and about 3,000 in the port city of Karachi at marches and prayers organized by Shiite groups to honor the memory of Nasrallah, whom the local press described as “the most powerful man in Lebanon,” AFP reported.

We oppose what Israel is doing in Palestine and Lebanon, that is why we are here today

— Taskeen, 27, a protest participant in Islamabad, told AFP.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry in a statement issued on Sunday condemned Israel’s “increasing adventurism” in the Middle East. “The reckless act that killed a Hezbollah leader in Lebanon represents a serious escalation in an already unstable region,” he added.

gah/PAP