- Israel and Iran exchange threats of retaliation
- Hezbollah, Israeli forces engage in Lebanon clashes
- UN calls emergency meeting amid escalating violence
Israel and Iran have launched retaliatory threats against one other, raising long-held anxieties about the possibility of a regional war.
Israel, with support from its US ally, has threatened to reply to Iran’s massive missile attack late Tuesday. Iran has stated that any such reprisal will face an even “tougher” response.
Meanwhile, Israel renewed its attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, announcing that it will send more troops to carry out the ground offensive that began on Tuesday.
Iran claimed the nearly 200 missiles it fired at Israel were in response to the recent assassinations of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials.
Late Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran that it had “made a big mistake.
According to Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, the Israeli military and political leadership have insisted that the strike “simply will not go unanswered.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has warned Iran that there will be “serious consequences.
According to US Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, “the world needs America to return to a maximum pressure campaign against Iran.
Threats were answered with defiance.
Iran’s armed forces joint chief of staff, General Mohammad Bagheri, has warned to launch another missile attack with “multiplied intensity” if Israel retaliates on Iranian soil.
Abbas Araghchi, Tehran’s foreign minister, called European counterparts overnight, warning that if Israel “takes retaliatory action, our response will be even tougher.”
On Wednesday, he stated that Tehran had cautioned the US against any intervention.
The growing tension fuels long-held fears that Israel’s attack on Gaza would eventually escalate into a regional war.
Amid global demands for moderation and a halt to escalation, the United Nations Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday to address the spiralling violence.
However, the violence does not appear to be waning.
In Lebanon, the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group stated on Wednesday that its soldiers have engaged Israeli forces for the first time since 2006.
Hezbollah claimed that they “inflicted losses on them and forced them to retreat” after Israeli soldiers attempted to penetrate the nation near the village of Odaisseh.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reported from Hasbaiyyah, Lebanon, that this was the first news of face-to-face fighting since Israel announced that its ongoing air campaign against Hezbollah will now include ground operations.
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“When Israel launched the ground invasion, there was a protracted and intensive artillery shelling concentrating on three localities, including Odaisseh. “It is one of the chokepoints where Israeli soldiers will try to enter,” Khan stated.
Air raids persist.
Israeli air attacks on southern Lebanon and Beirut continued Wednesday.
The Israeli military claimed to have targeted Hezbollah when it struck Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Large plumes of smoke were observed rising. Israel issued new evacuation orders for the area, which had been cleared mainly following days of intensive airstrikes.
Lebanon’s Disaster Risk Management Unit said on Tuesday that 1,873 people had been killed and 9,134 injured as a result of Israeli attacks in the nation since October 8 last year, when Hezbollah began shooting rockets at Israel as part of its Gaza war.
“The number of displaced persons from areas exposed to Israeli aggression has exceeded one million, including 155,600 registered in shelters,” according to the investigation.
