Joe Biden ready to 'adjust' US forces in Mideast amid tensions: White House
President orders US embassies in the region to take all protective measures as appropriate
Washington: President Joe Biden ordered US forces in the Middle East to be adjusted "as necessary," the White House said Friday, after Israel launched a wave of strikes on Lebanon's capital Beirut targeting Hezbollah's headquarters.
"He has directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary US force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support the full range of US objectives," the White House said in a statement.
Biden also ordered US embassies in the region to "take all protective measures as appropriate," it said.
The US president, who travelled to his beach house in Delaware on Friday, had been briefed several times by his national security team, the White House added.
Biden had earlier confirmed that "the United States had no knowledge of or participation in the (Israeli) action," adding in remarks to reporters that, "We're gathering information."
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said the US had no advance knowledge, adding that he had spoken by phone with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant "while Israel's operation was already underway".
A US official separately said Israel told Washington "once the operation was already ongoing and they had planes in the air."
Israeli television networks reported that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strike, though a source close to Hezbollah said he was "fine".
Further strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs
Meanwhile, further strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Saturday, AFP images showed, while Hezbollah's Al Manar television reported Israeli strikes in a number of areas in the group's bastion.
AFP images showed fires raging after the strikes and smoke rising in several areas south of Lebanon's capital, while Al Manar reported "successive Zionist strikes" on at least five areas of Beirut's southern suburbs.
Several Hezbollah commanders killed
The Israeli army also said it killed the commander of Hezbollah's missile unit in southern Lebanon in an air strike, along with his deputy and several other leaders of the Iran-backed movement.
Israeli fighter jets killed "Muhammad Ali Ismail, the commander of Hezbollah's missile unit in southern Lebanon, and his deputy," the military said in a statement on Telegram that added, "other Hezbollah commanders and terrorists were eliminated".
"We will not allow arms transfers to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in any way. We know about Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah and foil them. Air force jets are now patrolling around the Beirut airport," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a televised briefing.
"We will not allow hostile flights with weapons to land at the civilian Beirut airport."