Israel bombed again this Wednesday the south of Beirut, a bastion of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, and threatened Tehran with retaliation after its missile attack the day before, ignoring international calls for de-escalation.
Hezbollah announced in the morning that it confronted Israeli soldiers who attempted to infiltrate Lebanon, the day after Israel’s announcement of “limited” ground incursions on the Lebanese border.
The Lebanese army reported a brief incursion by the Israeli army into the south of the country.
Israel and its American ally threatened to respond to the attack launched on Tuesday by Iran, which fired some 200 missiles into Israeli territory to avenge the assassination of the leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the Iranian attack as a “serious mistake” and assured that Tehran “will pay” the price for the aggression that, according to him, sought to “kill thousands” of civilians. “Whoever attacks us, we attack him,” he warned.
The chief of the Iranian General Staff, General Mohamad Baqeri, warned that Iran would attack “with greater intensity” and bomb “all infrastructure” of Israel if it is attacked in retaliation.
In Tuesday’s operation, dubbed “Honest Promise 2,” Iran used hypersonic missiles for the first time, according to the Iranian press. Tehran claimed that 90% of the missiles hit their target.
The attack caused two minor injuries in Israel, according to emergency services, and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian official.
According to the Israeli army, a large number of missiles were intercepted by the anti-missile shield. Warning sirens sounded throughout Israel and airspace was closed.
– «Persona non grata» –
The UN Security Council will meet urgently on Wednesday to discuss the escalation of hostilities in the region.
But before the meeting, Israel declared UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “persona non grata” for not “unequivocally” condemning Iran’s ballistic attack.
“Anyone who is unable to unequivocally condemn Iran’s hateful attack on Israel does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil. “This Secretary General is against Israel, and supports terrorists, rapists and murderers,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared in a statement.
Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the G7, also called for this Wednesday a remote meeting of the leaders of the organization’s countries to talk about the Middle East.
The United States, which helped its Israeli ally “shoot down Iranian missiles”, stated that it wants to “coordinate” with the Israelis a response to its arch-enemy Iran.
“The United States totally, totally, totally supports Israel,” declared President Joe Biden.
– «Stay out of it» –
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country warned US forces “that they should stay out of this matter and not intervene.”
Regarding possible retaliation, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett advocated destroying the Iranian nuclear program, taking advantage of the open situation.
“We must act now to destroy the Iranian nuclear program and its central energy facilities, and deal a fatal blow to this terrorist regime,” he wrote on his X account.
«We have the justification. We have the tools. Now that Hezbollah and Hamas are paralyzed, Iran is exposed,” Bennett emphasized.
In parallel, the Israeli army bombed again on Wednesday the south of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, the armed militia that opened a front on the border with Israel in support of its ally Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.
He also issued a new call to Lebanese civilians to evacuate “immediately” more than twenty additional locations, including Palestinian refugee camps around the city of Tire.
In Lebanon, more than a thousand people have died, according to the Ministry of Health, since the explosions of Hezbollah’s communication devices on September 16 and 17, attributed to Israel, and the start of massive bombings against strongholds. of the Islamist movement.
After months of cross-border gunfire, the Israeli military intensified its offensive in Lebanon in mid-September, aiming to weaken Hezbollah and allow thousands of northern Israelis displaced by the conflict to return home.
Early on Wednesday, the Israeli army also announced that it bombed three schools in the Gaza Strip, used by Hamas as command centers, according to the military.
Israel has been at war with Hamas in Gaza since the Palestinian Islamist movement launched an unprecedented attack on its territory on October 7, 2023, which left 1,205 dead, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
So far, the Israeli offensive has left more than 41,600 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Hamas-ruled territory.
© Agence France-Presse