US Defence Secretary postpones Israel trip - source familiar with issue

The US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Brussels, Belgium on June 13, 2024. [Dursun Aydemir – Anadolu Agency]

US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, has postponed a planned trip next week to Israel amid the escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border, a source familiar with the issue said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

The source did not give a reason for the postponement.

The trip would have come at a time of heightened tensions in the region after attacks that blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers, which Lebanon and Hezbollah have blamed on Israel.

The attacks killed 37 people and wounded around 3,000, overwhelming Lebanese hospitals and wreaking bloody havoc on the group.

READ: EU’s Borrell says Lebanon attacks aimed to ‘spread terror’

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