Pentagon chief was on call with Gallant as Israeli bombing of Beirut was underway: US

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin was on the phone with the Israeli defense minister as a massive strike was underway on the southern suburbs of Beirut but the US was not involved at all, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Friday.

“The United States was not involved in this operation and we had no advance warning,” Singh told reporters during a briefing.

Singh would not say who initiated the call and played down criticism that the Israelis blindsided the US, once again, without providing any heads up about their planned operations. She also pushed back on the suggestion that the Israelis do not trust their US counterparts enough to give them advanced notice of specific attacks. “I think if there was any type of fracture in trust, you wouldn’t see those types of levels of calls and engagements occurring frequently [between Austin and his Israeli counterpart],” she said.

Singh also declined to comment on the fate of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was reportedly the target of the Israeli bombing.

The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed on the strikes in Beirut by his national security team.