‘American leadership is under question’ as MidEast conflict escalates The US leadership is coming under question as the conflict in the Middle East escalated with Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on Beirut Friday, The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith told FRANCE 24. With five weeks to go until November’s presidential election, US President Biden has become a “lame duck president” as he waits to see whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump will succeed him, Smith said.