Israel’s army continues to take action against its enemies ahead of the anniversary of the Hamas massacre. Meanwhile, questions remain as to when and how Israel will retaliate for Iran’s missile attack.
Israel’s air force struck targets deep inside Lebanon overnight, according to local security sources. Accordingly, a drone hit an apartment in a Palestinian refugee camp near the port city of Tripoli in the northwest. According to reports, there are supposed to be dead and injured people. It was the first such attack on the area since Israel began its offensive more than two weeks ago, it said. More attacks were also reported in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley in the east. There was initially no information from Israel’s army.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, on the eve of the first anniversary of the Islamist Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, there is nervous anticipation of Israel’s announced retaliation for Iran’s recent rocket attack. Israel has not assured US President Joe Biden’s government that a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is off the table, a senior US State Department official told CNN. Biden spoke out against such an attack on Wednesday.
Biden against attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump for it
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump now contradicted him: “His answer should have been: Target the nuclear facilities first and worry about the rest later,” said Trump at a campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Biden also advised Israel against attacks on the infrastructure of Iran’s oil industry. “If I were you, I would think about other alternatives than attacking oil fields,” he told the press at the White House.
Numerous rallies on the anniversary of the Hamas massacre
It is difficult to say whether Israel will use the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack to retaliate, CNN quoted the US official as saying. On October 7, 2023, terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped around 250 others as hostages in the Gaza Strip. This was the trigger for the war in the coastal strip. There, the Israeli army said it once again attacked a Hamas command center from the air.
The army said that night that it was in the center of the sealed-off coastal area in a former school building. Measures had previously been taken to reduce the danger to civilians. The information could not initially be independently verified. Meanwhile, before the anniversary of the Hamas massacre, people in Germany also want to commemorate the attack and the war. Numerous events have been announced for this weekend in Berlin and elsewhere. The police are preparing for a major operation.
Meanwhile, there are concerns about a wildfire following Iran’s rocket attack on Israel on Tuesday. The Israelis have not yet decided how they want to respond to the Iranian attack, Biden said. The official quoted by CNN, when asked whether an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was off the table, said: “We hope and expect that we will see both wisdom and strength, but as you know, there are no guarantees.” According to experts, another possible target for Israel could be Iran’s missiles.
Expert: Attack on Iran’s missile production possible
Since these could ultimately overwhelm the Israeli air defenses in the event of a possible renewed attack, Iran’s capacity to produce the missiles in particular is likely to be one of Israel’s priority targets, the “Wall Street Journal” quoted Fabian Hinz, research associate for defense and military analyzes at International Institute for Strategic Studies. While the Iranian missile stocks are located in underground facilities that are difficult to hit, the missile production facilities are less protected, Hinz told the US newspaper.
“Even fairly limited attacks would have an impact – nothing that couldn’t be fixed, but something that would stop production for quite a while,” he said. Iran attacked Israel with around 180 rockets on Tuesday. According to Israel’s military, most were intercepted with the help of a US-led defense coalition.
Iran’s religious leader defends attack on Israel
The attack came after a series of targeted killings by Israel targeting key players in Iran’s network of non-state allies such as Hezbollah. Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended the rocket attack and encouraged the allies. “The brilliant action of our armed forces (…) was a completely legal and legitimate act. In fulfilling our duty, we do not hesitate or act hastily,” said the head of state at a Friday sermon in the capital Tehran.
“We have no intention of continuing,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who traveled to Lebanon for talks amid military tensions. “If Israel takes further actions against Iran, our response will be harsher,” he told reporters, adding: “Our response will be appropriate and well thought out.” Observers suspect that his visit to the Lebanese capital Beirut is primarily about the successor to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike. Iran is the closest ally of the Hezbollah militia, which has been significantly weakened following the death of its leader.
Report: US wants to take advantage of Hezbollah’s weakness in Lebanon
Meanwhile, in Israel, a Saudi Arabian media report was cited that Israel was now certain that Hashim Safi al-Din, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, who was seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah, had been killed in a massive air strike in Beirut on Friday night have. There is currently no official confirmation from the Israeli army. Hezbollah also did not comment. In Lebanon, which has been without a president and effectively without a government for two years, Nasrallah’s death created a power vacuum. There are currently no signs that Iran wants to close the gap.
According to information from the US news portal “Axios”, the USA wants to use Israel’s massive strike against Hezbollah to push for the election of a new Lebanese president. The Biden administration now sees an opportunity to drastically reduce the militia’s influence on Lebanon’s political system and elect a new president who is not an ally of Hezbollah, Axios quoted two unnamed US officials as saying.
Attacks between Hezbollah and Israel continue
Meanwhile, mutual shelling between Hezbollah and the Israeli army continues. Israel’s army wants to weaken Hezbollah and drive it away from the border. The Shiite militia issued a statement at dawn saying it had fired another barrage of rockets into northern Israel. According to the Israeli military, the previous day the pro-Iranian militia fired around 222 projectiles from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Sirens also wailed at night in northern Israel.