On a hilltop lookout near Israel’s border with Lebanon, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter Monday offered personal assurances that the US would help Israel counter Iranian support for the militant group Hezbollah.
He called it one example of how the US can support the Jewish state in the aftermath of the Iran nuclear deal. Carter visited Hussein Lookout, with a sweeping view of the border as well as the Golan Heights, in an effort to emphasize US concern about a range of threats that face Israel. These include tens of thousands of short-, medium- and longer-range Hezbollah rockets and missiles in southern Lebanon that could hit Israeli villages and cities.
“Hezbollah is sponsored of course by Iran, which is why the US will continue to help Israel counter Iranian malign influence in the region,” Carter said after receiving an Israeli security briefing in the area.
Carter hit the same theme later at a joint news conference in Tel Aviv with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. They used the appearance to make a public show of unity at a low point in US-Israeli relations heavily strained by Israeli opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement.
The deal, reached between US-led world powers and Iran, puts limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.
Israeli leaders have complained that the deal does nothing to address Iran’s support for hostile anti-Israel groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza . They also say the deal does not have sufficient safeguards to prevent Iran from reaching the capability to make nuclear arms.
Since its birth in 1982, Hezbollah has mounted a sustained resistance campaign against the Israeli army occupying south Lebanon, forcing it to withdraw in 2000.
In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a 33-day war that killed 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
