House Speaker urges Biden to release weapons to Israel

House Speaker, Mike Johnson, urged US President Joe Biden on Tuesday to release all weapons to Israel after an attack on an Iraqi airbase injuring American personnel, Anadolu Agency reports.

“After repeated attacks on American troops in the region, and while Israel is under threat from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, the US cannot hesitate to defend our service members and our ally,” Johnson said in a statement.

That was after several US personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack Monday against US and coalition forces at the Ain Al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq.

US Defence chief, Lloyd Austin, and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, agreed Monday in a telephone call that the “Iran-aligned militia attack marked a dangerous escalation and demonstrated Iran’s destabilising role in the region.”

Johnson said any attack by Iran against Israel or American interests would be “unjustified and met with decisive force.” He said the US and its allies in the region should work to “strongly counter Iran and its terror proxies to send a clear message against these malign activities.”

“We know the current Iranian aggression, backed by Chinese and Russian interests, comes after a months-long pressure campaign against Israel from the Biden-Harris Administration. Now is the time for the White House to realise their choices have brought us to the brink of disaster and give full-throated support to Israel.

“President Biden must immediately release all previously withheld and delayed weapons to Israel — so it can defend its people and deter Iran — and make clear that there will be decisive economic, military and international ramifications should Iran engage in or support any attacks,” he added.

Regional tensions have escalated after Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the Political Bureau chief of the Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas, was assassinated in the Iranian capital of Tehran on 31 July after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new President.

Hamas and Iran accused Israel of the assassination. Tel Aviv has not denied or confirmed responsibility.

Israel is on high alert for a potential military response from Iran and the Lebanese group, Hezbollah, which also vowed to retaliate following the death of senior Commander, Fuad Shukr, in an Israeli strike last week on a suburb of Beirut.

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