Beirut: As tensions escalate in the Middle East, Israel said it had targeted the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut and was assessing the damage on Friday as the group's backer Iran has refused to back down in the face of aggression and warned Israel of a 'harsher response' if it retaliates to Tehran's missile attack earlier this week.
Israel's army claimed to eliminate 250 Hezbollah members, including its commander Mohammed Rashid Sakafi. The air attack on Beirut, part of a wider assault that has driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes, was reported to have targeted the potential successor to the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel a week ago. Hashem Safieddine's fate was unclear and neither Israel nor Hezbollah have offered any comment.
A blast was heard and smoke was seen over Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, as the Israeli military issued three alerts for residents of the area to immediately evacuate. In a statement early on Saturday, Hezbollah also said the Israeli army was trying to infiltrate the Lebanese southern town of Odaisseh and that clashes there were ongoing.
The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to dozens of women and children killed. The government in Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been killed there in the past year, most in the past two weeks, which was dubbed as "unacceptable" by UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel plans retaliatory attack on Iran
Amid hostilities in Lebanon, Israel is also weighing options in its response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday, which Iran had carried out in response to Israel's military action against Hezbollah. Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden said on Friday he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran. Israel sent ground forces into Lebanon this week after the Iranian missiles attacks.
In a rare sermon on Friday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a huge crowd in Tehran that Iran and its regional allies would not back down, calling on Israel's adversaries to
"double your efforts and capabilities... and resist the aggressive enemy". He also mentioned Nasrallah and called Iran's attack on Israel legal and legitimate.
Iran's warnings to Israel
Iran’s Foreign Minister on Friday warned Israel that Tehran will “retaliate harshly” if it carries out an attack on Iran, in response to the latest missile salvo on the Jewish country on October 1. The move escalated the tensions in the Middle East which were already soaring due to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
“If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. His remarks came after meeting Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, as the latter said that Iran's attack on Israel was “legitimate self-defence".
He said Iran backs any cease-fire on the condition that it “preserves the right of the Lebanese people, that it be accepted by the resistance (Hezbollah) and coincides with a ceasefire in Gaza.”
(with agency input)
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