Fears of a regional war in the Middle East spiked after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets towards Israel. The rocket attacks came after Israeli strikes killed a senior Hezbollah commander and the killing of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Hezbollah on Saturday (local time) said it launched dozens of rockets at Israel as tensions in the Middle East soared with Iran and its allies reading their response to the killing of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this week. Amid fears of a regional war, US President Joe Biden hoped that Iran would “stand down” despite its threats to attack Israel.
Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, said its rocket attacks on Moshav Beit Hillel in Israel injured civilians there, The Times of Israel reported. It also said it was a retaliatory attack to Israel’s strikes on Kfar Kela and Deir Siriane in Lebanon and after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from Hezbollah.
Three US and Israeli officials said they had expected Iran to attack Israel as early as Monday, according to an Axios report.
ISRAEL-IRAN-HEZBOLLAH TENSIONS UPDATES:
- Israel said its famed Dome system intercepted most rockets fired by Hezbollah. Israeli authorities said several impacts were recognised near Beit Hillel. According to local media, fires were reported in the area.
- The US, Israel’s ally, said it was boosting its military presence in the Middle East to protect its personnel and defend the Jewish nation amid soaring tensions. Washington said it would deploy an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers and a new fighter squadron in the region.
- Biden, at his beach home in Delaware, was asked about Iran’s threat to attack Israel amid the tensions in the region. He was asked whether Iran would stand down to which he replied, “I hope so. I don’t know.”
- The US Embassy in Beirut has asked its people to immediately leave Lebanon on “any ticket available” amid fears of a fresh war in the region. The advisory came after UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned that the regional situation “could deteriorate rapidly”. Several countries, including Jordan, Canada and India, have issued similar advisories for their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.
- Meanwhile, Iran, which blames Israel for the killing of Haniyeh, said it expected Hezbollah to strike deeper inside Israel and that the group would no longer be confined to military targets.
- Significantly, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups from Yemen, Iraq and Syria are already involved in the nearly 10-month-old war between Israel and Palestinian outfit Hamas in Gaza.