John Kirby on Hezbollah: ‘Israel Has a Right and a Responsibility to Eliminate This Threat to Their People and to Their Land’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
RADDATZ: “But they still have capability. I mean, do you have any estimate of long-range missiles or how much fire power still remains?”

KIRBY: “I don’t think we have a clear picture of exactly how much capability they have, but you’re absolutely right. You can’t just count them out. They still have quite a bit of capability left.”

RADDATZ: “And, you know, the U.S., you, and everybody in the administration has talked about de-escalaing this conflict, calming it down, tamping it down, but let me ask you this. Why shouldn’t Israel — at this point, when Hezbollah is so vulnerable, when they have had so many people wiped out, just go full boar after Hezbollah?”

KIRBY: “I think to a degree, both things can be true, Martha. They have — Israel has a right and a responsibility to eliminate this threat to their people and to their land, to their sovereignty. It is a terrorist organization. They are still launching missiles and rockets at Israel, and they have a right to be concerned about whatever infrastructure remains of Hezbollah. This is a well-armed, well-resourced group. At the same time, we believe that we do need to look for ways to de-escalate the tensions, to prevent this from becoming an all-out war.”