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Helene Has Killed More Than 110 People. Here Are Some of Their Stories.
"After the Category 4 hurricane made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast and pummeled the Southeast, some victims’ portraits were coming into focus.
Emergency workers searching a canal for missing people in Keaton Beach, Fla.Paul Ratje for The New York Times
A woman in her 70s who repaired nuclear cooling towers and rode motorcycles. A Florida resident who helped her community recover from Hurricane Ian two years ago. A man who had just moved to South Carolina to work as an electrical lineman.
All three were among themore than 110 peoplekilled by Helene, a roaring Category 4 hurricane that has devastated much of the Southeast since coming ashore last week.
The victims came from at least six states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Many people drowned, and others were killed by falling trees, car crashes under heavy rains and a tornado produced by the storm. A lot of the victims were still unidentified.
The toll is almost certain to rise as rescuers reach communities in the Appalachian Mountains, where devastating flooding and mudslides have decimated whole towns.
But on Sunday, three days after the giant storm made landfall in the Big Bend region, some victims’ stories were coming into focus.
Most of the victims in Florida drowned in Pinellas County, the state’s most densely populated county, which is in the Tampa Bay region.
One of them was Marjorie Havard, 79, of St. Pete Beach. Her son, Todd Webb, 58, who also lives in St. Pete Beach, believes that his mother tripped, fell and drowned in several feet of storm surge.
After raising her children in Ohio, Ms. Havard became a licensed carpenter and traveled the country to repair nuclear cooling towers. She rode motorcycles and loved animals; she had owned a llama, a horse and a mule, in addition to dogs and cats.
“At one time she was pretty darn tough,” Mr. Webb said. “But at 79, the storm took her.”
Marjorie Havard, 79, of St. Pete Beach was a “pretty darn tough” woman who rode motorcycles and loved animals, her son said.Todd Webb
Mr. Webb said his mother had insisted on staying in her home before the storm, even though she was under an evacuation order. He believes many of her neighbors made the same decision because Helene had been expected to make landfall much farther north. But even so, the record-breaking hurricane — Helene is the strongest to ever hit the Big Bend region — broughtdangerous storm surgeto the Tampa Bay area.
Aidan Bowles, a 71-year-old retired lawyer who had owned a local sports bar, also chose not to evacuate from his one-story cottage in Indian Rocks Beach in Pinellas County.
One of his neighbors, John Comer, an artist who had also stayed during the storm, checked on Mr. Bowles the day after the hurricane made landfall and came across a harrowing scene: Mr. Bowles had been trapped under a dresser and covered in mud.
“It’s not something you can get out of your mind easily,” Mr. Comer said.
Mr. Bowles had grown up in Ireland and vacationed on Indian Rocks Beach since the 1980s. After living in Kentucky for a while, he and his wife, Sabrina, moved permanently to Indian Rocks Beach about 15 years ago. She died a little over a year ago, but he didn’t want to move out of their home. “He absolutely loved Indian Rocks Beach,” Mr. Comer said.
Mr. Comer also described how friendly Mr. Bowles had been to patrons of his family’s business.
“One of the amazing traits about him was he would always sit down with people and talk to them when they came into his restaurant to eat,” he said.
Another victim in Pinellas County was Rachel Burch, 37, who also drowned. Ms. Burch was no stranger to Florida hurricanes. After Hurricane Ian hit in 2022, she helped people rebuild on Pine Island, where she lived at the time, according to her friend Angee Romero, 50.
“She loved Florida,” Ms. Romero said. “After the hurricane, she was 110 percent helping. She was right there with her extra-tough mullet boots, just like all of us,” referring to waterproof boots typically worn by fishermen.
Ms. Burch was an outgoing and friendly person, Ms. Romero said. When the two worked together at the American Legion Auxiliary unit in St. James City, Fla., they distributed meals and supplies after Ian tore through their community.
A few months after Ian, Ms. Burch left Pine Island and eventually relocated to Treasure Island, in Pinellas County, for what her friend called “a new beginning.”
Like Ms. Burch, Patricia Mikos, 80, had also moved to the county to start a new chapter. After spending most of her life in Buffalo, where she had worked as a hairdresser, Ms. Mikos retired to Dunedin, where she embraced the warm weather and enjoyed an active social life, according to her daughter, Nicole Blake, 46.
“She especially loved going out with friends for dinner and dancing,” Mrs. Blake said. “She was very, very happy there.”
Damage from Hurricane Helene in Keaton Beach. Helene is the strongest storm to ever hit Florida’s Big Bend region.Zack Wittman for The New York Times
Ms. Mikos was at her residence when water rushed inside and a possible electrical fire broke out, according to officials. Firefighters tried to reach her but were blocked by the rising water. After the water receded, Ms. Mikos was found dead and covered with debris.
Mrs. Blake said her mother would be remembered as a “wonderful lady with a big heart.”
Outside Florida, many of the storm-related deaths occurred when trees fell onto homes and vehicles.
A tree in Aiken County, S.C., claimed the life of Michael Roukous, 29, who had recently moved to the area. According to his father, Joe Roukous, Mr. Roukous was “a lot of people’s first phone call” when they needed help.
Mr. Roukous, originally from Dexter, N.Y., enjoyed hunting and camping. Growing up, Mr. Roukous lived on a large piece of land, and he would often be in the woods with his father, according to his family.
“He was everybody’s best friend,” his father said. “He was my best friend.”
Middle East crisis live: Hezbollah confirms death of another senior military commander in Israeli airstrike
(The US needs to cut off all nondefensive arms shipments to this apartheid regime. We are paying for the murder of civilians by this evil, colonial government.)
"Ali Karaki, commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, killed in same strikes that assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah
People walk amid the rubble of buildings levelled by Israeli strikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of Beirut's southern suburbs.Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Karaki was a member of the group’s Jihad Council and the commander of the organisation’s southern front. He had escaped death a few days prior, afterIsraelsaid it attempted to assassinate him in an airstrike on Dahieh last Monday.
“[Karaki] was directly and on the ground responsible for leading the southern front with all its axes and units in the support front from 8 October, 2023, until his blessed martyrdom”, a statement fromHezbollahread announcing his death.
Karaki was the latest in a series of military commanders to be killed by Israel, leaving Hezbollah’s senior military leadership almost completely wiped out.
Over inCyprus, the EU’s nearest member state to the Middle East, an anti-war rally has been held outside a British Sovereign base that activists have accused of “facilitating” Israel’s armed action.
Hundreds of protestors, chanting “No to war” and “Out, Out, British bases out,” rallied within metres of the gates of RAF Akrotiri amid mounting fears of the Mediterranean island being drawn into a wider conflict if hostilities spiral out of control. The leftwing AKEL party official Haris Karamanou told demonstrators:
We are here, right outside the British Air Force airport in Akrotiri, because from here British spy planes are assisting the occupying forces of Israel in gathering information on the ‘operations’ in Gaza. And because hundreds of tons of bombs and ammunition have passed through here to aid the total destruction of Gaza.
Speaking to the Guardian, Nicoletta Charalambidou, a prominent human rights lawyer also attending the rally said:
The government of Cyprus has failed to take a clear stance against the war and we are against the facilitation it has granted that has allowed the British bases to indirectly support Israel’s war in Palestine, Gaza and Lebanon.
Others activists said they were furious at the growing use “on Cypriot land” of the installation, one of two bases retained by Britain, a former colony.
In a statement urging people to attend Sunday’s protest, the left-wing backed Cyprus Peace Council said it was imperative the island’s government took a clear stance if the country was to avoid becoming a target for attack. It said:
The large military activities carried out these days on the ground and air around the Akrotiri base as well as the large concentration of US military forces in our country to prepare for a broader war, heightens the feeling of concern that Cyprus may become a target for an attack.
The statement came hours after the UK announced it was “bolstering contingency teams” in the region, moving 700 troops to the island in preparation of mass evacuations from Lebanon
Earlier this year protestors conducted a similar rally outside Akrotiri to demonstrate against the British bases being used as an “aggressive launch pad” for the war inGazaamid revelations of its deployment as a staging point for fighter jets involved in strikes against pro-Palestinian Houthi militia in Yemen.
UK defence officials have robustly denied accusations of the bases being used to funnel weapons to Israel. On Sunday, the Cyprus Mail quoted a British bases spokesperson as saying: “No RAF flights have transported lethal cargo to the Israeli Defence Forces.” It was standard practice the spokesperson said “for the UK Ministry of Defence to routinely authorise requests for a limited number of allies and partners to access the UK’s air bases.”
Under the terms of the bases’ establishment, Britain is not formally obliged to seek permission from Cyprus for operations conducted out of the military installations.
A school sheltering displaced Palestinians inBeit Lahiyain the northern Gaza Strip was hit by Israeli strikes earlier, Reuters reported. Four people were killed and several others injured, Gaza medics said.
In another strike, three people were killed in a house inGaza City, medics said. Four others were reportedly killed in three separate airstrikes inNuseirat andKhan Younisin central and southern parts of theGazaStrip.
A Palestinian man walks among debris of destroyed buildings in Khan Younis, Gaza.Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
William Christou is reporting for the Guardian from Beirut
Israel has carried out a strike on Beirut, with the sound of a missile flying overhead and an impact being heard by a Guardian correspondent.
A plume of smoke emanated from the outskirts ofChiyah, a section of the city on the borders ofDahiyeh, the southern suburbs of Beirut which have been the main target of Israeli bombing over the past week. The target of the strike was not immediately clear.
Hezbollah announces death of senior military commander in Israeli airstrike
Karaki was a member of the group’s Jihad Council and the commander of the organisation’s southern front. He had escaped death a few days prior, afterIsraelsaid it attempted to assassinate him in an airstrike on Dahieh last Monday.
“[Karaki] was directly and on the ground responsible for leading the southern front with all its axes and units in the support front from 8 October, 2023, until his blessed martyrdom”, a statement fromHezbollahread announcing his death.
Karaki was the latest in a series of military commanders to be killed by Israel, leaving Hezbollah’s senior military leadership almost completely wiped out.
Iran’s foreign minister,Abbas Araqchi,saidthe killing of Brigadier GeneralAbbas Nilforoushan, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deputy commander, by Israel was a “horrible crime” that would not go unanswered.Nilforoushanwas killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday, in which Hezbollah leaderHassan Nasrallahwas also assassinated.
European foreign ministers, including officials from the UK, Germany and France, havestepped up callsfor a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah amid fears of the conflict spreading across the region.
The Israeli militarysaid on Sundaythat it killed senior Hezbollah figureNabil Kaoukin an airstrike in Lebanon yesterday. He was the deputy head of the Lebanese militant group’s central council and was one of the few remaining senior members of the organisation. On Sunday, Israel said it hit “dozens” more Hezbollah targets overnight.
The Lebanese army said it “calls on citizens to preserve national unity and not to be drawn into actions that may affect civil peace at this dangerous and delicate stage”. The country’s prime minister,Najib Mikati, urged Lebanese people “to come together” to preserve civil order. Diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire with Israel are ongoing.
The UN World Food Programme(WFP)launchedan emergency operation to provide food for up to 1 million people affected by the conflict in Lebanon. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 6,000 injured as a result of Israeli attacks in the past two weeks, the health ministry said, and about one million Lebanese people have been displaced by Israeli strikes.
At least 41,595 Palestinian people have been killed and 96,251 injured in Israeli strikes onGazasince 7 October,the Gaza health ministry said.
Iran vows response to killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander
Iran’s foreign minister,Abbas Araqchi, said the killing byIsraelof an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deputy commander was a “horrible crime” that would not go unanswered.
Brigadier GeneralAbbas Nilforoushanwas killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday, in whichHezbollahleader Hassan Nasrallah also was assassinated.
“There is no doubt that this horrible crime committed by the Zionist regime (Israel) will not go unanswered,” Araqchi said.
In 2019, Nilforoushan was appointed as the operations deputy of the IRGC, whichIranuses to provide Hezbollah with most of its funding, training and weapons.
Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:
Israeli soldiers are deployed in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel near the border with Lebanon.Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
Smoke rises from damaged buildings in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut.Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters
A view of the front pages of the newspapers at a store in Tehran featured news about the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Even as Israeli defence officials continued to raise the prospect of a cross-border operation into southernLebanon, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK voiced alarm over the latest escalation on the Israeli side.
Israel must “immediately stop its strikes in Lebanon”, the French foreign minister,Jean-Noël Barrot, said, adding that his country was opposed to any form of ground operation by the Israelis.
David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, said on X that he had spoken to the Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati. “We agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the bloodshed. A diplomatic solution is the only way to restore security and stability for the Lebanese and Israeli people,” Lammy wrote.
The German foreign minister,Annalena Baerbock, told the broadcaster ARD that Nasrallah’s killing “threatens destabilisation for the whole of Lebanon”, which “is in no way in Israel’s security interest”.
Death toll in Gaza reaches 41,595 says health ministry
At least 41,595 Palestinian people have been killed and 96,251 injured in Israeli strikes onGazasince 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The health ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
Lebanon army makes plea for 'national unity' after assassination of Hezbollah leader
In a statement, the Lebanese army has said that it “calls on citizens to preserve national unity and not to be drawn into actions that may affect civil peace at this dangerous and delicate stage” following the Israeli strike that killedHezbollahleader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday, and as Israeli attacks continue.
“The Israeli enemy is working to implement its destructive plans and sow division among Lebanese,” the army statement added.
Lebanon has long been divided along sectarian lines which had contributed to a devastating civil war between 1975-1990.
Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group, wields great power in Lebanon’s south. Its military might dwarfs Lebanon’s national armed forces.
A Lebanese army official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) troops had been deployed since Saturday in Beirut. The country’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, urged Lebanese people “to come together” to preserve civil order.
Lebanese PM to chair emergency committee meeting this afternoon
William Christou
William Christou has been reporting for the Guardian from Beirut
Lebanese prime ministerNajib Mikatiwill chair a meeting of the government emergency committee this afternoon, along with several ministers.
The meeting comes asLebanondeals with successive waves of displacement, with 90,000 fleeing Israeli bombardment of the south and the Bekaa Valley last Monday, and many more evacuating the southern suburbs of Beirut after intense Israeli airstrikes on Friday.
Beirut’s public spaces are filled with families, gathered on sidewalks and small parks across the cities with their belongings.
Many have spent the last two nights homeless and hungry, with the Lebanese state unable to respond to the scale of the humanitarian crisis.
Private initiatives have sprung up to fill the gap, with small NGOs and even individuals distributing food and water in areas where the displaced have gathered.
A family sleep on the ground in Beirut after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh.Photograph: Bilal Hussein/AP"
Strike on Hezbollah Deepens Disconnect Between Biden and Netanyahu
"Israeli officials gave their American counterparts no advance warning of the strike that killed Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, according to U.S. officials. But Mr. Biden said the killing was “a measure of justice” for victims of Hezbollah terrorism.
President Biden delivering remarks after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his war cabinet, in Israel last year.Kenny Holston/The New York Times
No one inside the White House was crying forHassan Nasrallahon Saturday. But the Israeli strike that killed Mr. Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, once again deepened tensions between President Biden’s administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Israeli officials gave their American counterparts no advance warning of the strike on Friday, according to U.S. officials, who were already peeved that Mr. Netanyahu brushed off a U.S.-French 21-day cease-fire proposal. Now American officials worry that they face a wider war that could engulf the region after nearly a year of effort by Mr. Biden to head off such an escalation.
In a measured statement on Saturday morning, Mr. Biden expressed satisfaction over the killing of Mr. Nasrallah and noted that Hezbollah was responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over the decades. But he called on the combatants in the region “to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts” and agree to diplomatic deals to end the fighting. He also said that he had ordered U.S. forces in the region to enhance their “defense posture” to deter aggression and to reduce the risk of a broader regional war.
“His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Nasrallah. He noted that Mr. Nasrallah “made the fateful decision” to open a “northern front” against Israel the day after the Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7.
But he emphasized the need for diplomacy to calm the region down. “In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and southern Lebanon,” Mr. Biden said. “It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability.”
Vice President Kamala Harris later issueda statement along similar lines, using the same phrase about a “measure of justice” for Hezbollah’s victims. “Hassan Nasrallah was a terrorist with American blood on his hands,” she said. While emphasizing her “unwavering commitment to the security of Israel,” she echoed Mr. Biden’s call for de-escalation, saying that “diplomacy remains the best path forward.”
While the president and vice president refrained from publicly second-guessing Israel, American officials privately expressed frustration about what they saw as the latest example of a pattern of defiance by an ally that Mr. Biden has sought to support. The miscommunications and miscalculations of recent days have only underscored the disconnect between the American president and the Israeli prime minister.
The expanding Middle East war comes at a politically sensitive time for Mr. Biden and the White House as Ms. Harris races to build support for the election that culminates in about five weeks. More turmoil in the region could fuel criticism from the left and the right even as Ms. Harris would prefer to focus attention on what she calls the dangers of another term for former President Donald J. Trump.
Some Biden team veterans even speculated about whether Mr. Netanyahu was intentionally trying to help Mr. Trump win the Nov. 5 election given their past alignment — a theory that, true or not, highlights the deep mistrust and suspicion that have grown in recent months between Washington and Jerusalem.
Mr. Trump, for his part, issued no statement about Mr. Nasrallah’s killing by early evening nor did he address the situation one way or the other during a campaign rally. But House Republican leaders quickly used the episode to criticize Mr. Biden for trying to restrain Israel.
“We call on the Biden-Harris administration to end its counterproductive calls for a cease-fire and its ongoing diplomatic pressure campaign against Israel,” Speaker Mike Johnson and other leaders said in a statement, calling Mr. Nasrallah’s death “a major step forward for the Middle East.”
Indeed, there were some in the Biden administration who agreed with the latter assessment. Mr. Nasrallah’s death, along with Israel’s seeming success at wiping out much of Hezbollah’s war-making capacity, could present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to finally break the Iran-backed terrorist group’s stranglehold on Lebanon, some U.S. officials reasoned. A cease-fire deal, they hoped, could be reached now on more advantageous terms.
“Although escalatory, probably by design, it is important to note that Hezbollah has been targeting Israeli settlements since Oct. 8, the day after the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas,” said Mick Mulroy, a former Pentagon official and retired C.I.A. officer. “No country, including the U.S., would have accepted these continuous attacks.”
On the other hand, critics of Israel said the strike was an affront to Mr. Biden and raised the dangers of further violence in the region while doing nothing to bring home the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. “This is exactly the opposite of what President Biden had been working toward as he laid out a cease-fire plan and urged a diplomatic resolution,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a liberal Israel advocacy group.
Either way, Mr. Biden’s administration was bracing for the fallout from the strike, watching for signs that Iran might retaliate as it tried to do in April after Israel bombed an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria. U.S. forces helped Israel knock down nearly all of the 300 missiles and drones that Iran fired at the time, thwarting Tehran’s bid for revenge, but it is not a given that they can be just as successful again.
Demonstrators during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran on Friday. Hezbollah confirmed that its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in an Israeli bombing that day.Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
The Israeli strike killing Mr. Nasrallah was a giant step over the red lines of Hezbollah and Iran. American officials doubt that this time Iran will be content to let fly a single barrage just to make a symbolic gesture. While it is not known exactly what Iran might be planning, a far more sustained response was considered likely, such as a multiday missile and drone attack. Still, U.S. officials said they had not yet seen preparations for such a response.
Tempering any possible Hezbollah retaliation is the fact that, at least temporarily, the group has been put on its back foot. The Israeli military campaign over the last month has not destroyed the group’s military capacity, but has most likely diminished its ability to react quickly with a decisive attack.
The Israeli overt and covert attacks have taken out Hezbollah weapons caches, disrupted their communication systems and taken out both midlevel and senior leaders. The Israeli military delivered a hard blow, one that Hezbollah will recover from eventually, but one that it will struggle to deal with in the short term, according to one U.S. official.
And past predictions of a wider war have not always born fruit. After Mr. Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the Iranian security and intelligence commander responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops over the years, many foreign policy veterans in Washington warned that it would touch off a dangerous escalation. Instead, Iran launched a relatively modest rocket attack against U.S. bases in the region that did not kill anyone and Mr. Trump then stood down, ending the immediate conflict.
At the same time, predictions that killing General Suleimani would deter future Iranian support for terrorism likewise did not turn out to be right either. Iran continues to back not only Hezbollah but Hamas, the Houthis and other militias in Iraq and Syria. And according to U.S. prosecutors, Iran has been trying to find ways to assassinate Mr. Trump and other members of his administration ever since.
Mr. Nasrallah has played a singular role in Lebanon for decades. U.S. officials have argued over the last year that he actually has been a moderating force on Hezbollah, on Iran and the region. Like the White House, they said, Mr. Nasrallah did not want a wider war. In his case, he believed it would undermine Hezbollah’s position in Lebanon and bring the kind of devastation that Palestinians in Gaza have suffered.
Mr. Nasrallah did not know about Hamas’s plans for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, U.S. officials said, and almost certainly would have objected to them. While he did have Hezbollah conduct cross-border rocket strikes, driving Israelis from their homes in northern Israel, he did not let the conflict escalate further. U.S. officials understood the political problems those cross-border attacks were causing in Israel, but believed that the only way to get Hezbollah to stop was to get a peace agreement in Gaza.
But with Mr. Netanyahu unwilling to make a cease-fire agreement with Hamas, some military officials in Israel clearly thought an escalatory attack on Hezbollah was the only way to stop the cross-border strikes. Even after Israel’s strike on a Hezbollah missile factory in Syria and its recent exploding pager attack on Hezbollah military leaders, U.S. and French officials held out hope that they could find an offramp.
Smoke rising after a new wave of Israeli airstrikes in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday.Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times
After a series of texts between Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, and other U.S. officials with Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Mr. Netanyahu, the White House thought Israel would be open to a 21-day cease-fire proposed by the United States and France. But soon after Washington and Paris announced the plan, Mr. Netanyahu rejected it out of hand.
People close to the Israeli side blamed that on a miscommunication, not an intentional effort to snub Mr. Biden. They said the proposal never made it to Mr. Netanyahu himself nor was it taken to the security cabinet and therefore was never something Israel had signaled it was ready to accept. U.S. officials expressed skepticism about that explanation, but the episode embarrassed and angered Mr. Biden and his team.
For their part, the Israelis did not notify much less ask for permission to go after Mr. Nasrallah, a decision American officials assumed was because the Israelis knew the U.S. side would object out of concern that such a move was counterproductive.
Instead, Mr. Biden appeared out of the loop. Asked on Friday about strikes that targeted Mr. Nasrallah, he told reporters that he needed to “get more detail” and did not “know enough to answer that question.”
Asked if he was concerned about escalation, he said simply: “I’m always concerned about that. I’m always concerned about that.”
Michael Crowley,Edward WongandMichael D. Shearcontributed reporting.
Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The Times. He has covered the last five presidents and sometimes writes analytical pieces that place presidents and their administrations in a larger context and historical framework.More about Peter Baker
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.More about Julian E. Barnes"
