White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration is concerned about new reports that Israel used white phosphorus munitions supplied by the United States in an attack in Lebanon.
“We’ve seen the reports, certainly concerned about that. We’ll be asking questions to try to learn a little bit more,” Kirby told reporters.
The Washington Post reported Monday that U.S.-supplied white phosphorus was used by Israeli forces in an October attack in southern Lebanon that injured at least nine civilians.
“I do think it’s important to remind that white phosphorus does have a legitimate military utility … and obviously, anytime that we provide items like white phosphorus to another military, it is with the full expectation that it would be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes and in keeping with the laws of armed conflict,” Kirby added.
White phosphorus, a waxlike chemical substance that ignites when encountering oxygen, is usually not considered a chemical weapon, but human rights groups regularly criticize its use in warfare.
It has uses that are legitimate and not actions of chemical warfare — such as signaling troops or providing cover. But its use in military attacks has drawn fierce criticism because of how white phosphorus can hurt civilians.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in October accused Israel of using white phosphorus during its military operations and, at the time said it had verified the use of the toxic chemical in Lebanon and Gaza on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11.
When pressed on whether the U.S. is concerned over the Israel-Hamas conflict involving more countries in light of the reports, Kirby reiterated the Biden administration’s position against it widening.
“We absolutely don’t want to see this conflict spill over into Lebanon,” he said. “We don’t want to see it escalate and widen and so it is also in the context of that that we’re concerned about these reports.”