Biden says US is doing ‘everything we can’ to prevent wider war in the Middle East

President Biden said the U.S. is doing “everything we can” to prevent wider war in the Middle East on Sunday.

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out,” the president said, according to a White House pool report, responding to a question about the region’s “rising tensions.”

Biden’s words follow the recent exchange of fire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. More than 30 people were killed in an airstrike by Israel aimed at Hezbollah in Beirut, a Lebanese health official said Saturday.

Health Minister Firass Abiad said in a news conference that the strike resulted in 31 deaths, including seven women and three children. A minimum of 68 people were also injured, and 15 were still recovering in the hospital, according to Abiad.

The strike occurred Friday and killed the head of Hezbollah’s operations unit and the commander of the elite special forces unit, the Radwan Force, per the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces also said that other senior Radwan commanders were killed.

The Israelis’ Friday strike followed Hezbollah launching about 140 rockets toward Israel, but most of them were downed via Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, according to the Israeli military.

Pager and handheld radio attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday also killed 37 people and wounded thousands.