Israeli officials have warned for months that Israel might invade Lebanon if Hezbollah did not pull its forces back from the border area. Hezbollah has also threatened to launch an incursion into Israel.
Iran has threatened an “obliterating war” if Israel launches a full-scale attack in Lebanon, as diplomats work to prevent tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, from escalating into an all-out conflict.
In a post on the social platform X late Friday, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said that “all options,” including the involvement of Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East, “are on the table.” Chief among those groups is Hezbollah, a powerful militia that dominates southern Lebanon.
At the same time, Iran dismissed warnings from Israeli officials that Israel could invade Lebanon as “psychological warfare.”
Enemies for decades, Israel and Hezbollah have frequently exchanged fire along Israel’s northern border. Since the war in the Gaza Strip began last October, Hezbollah and the Israeli military have intensified cross-border strikes.
Israeli officials have warned for months that Israel might invade Lebanon if Hezbollah did not pull its forces back from the border area. Hezbollah has also threatened to launch an incursion into Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with Biden administration officials in Washington this past week, in large measure to discuss friction along the Lebanon border.
US officials are keen to avoid an escalation in which Iran and Israel again directly exchange blows, following back-and-forth aerial attacks in April. Political analysts say that Iran appears to want to avoid a direct confrontation as well.
During his visit to Washington, Gallant told US officials that Israel also did not want a full-scale war with Hezbollah, but that it was prepared to hit the group hard if provoked.
On Thursday, the State Department issued an advisory again warning Americans not travel to Lebanon, emphasizing that Lebanon’s government “cannot guarantee the protection of US citizens against sudden outbreaks of violence and armed conflict.”
Analysts and officials have said that a halt to the fighting in Gaza would be the surest way to defuse the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel Minister Says Iran “Deserves To Be Destroyed” For War Threat
Iran’s UN mission said on Friday that if Israel embarks on a “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon, “an obliterating war will ensue.”
Jerusalem:
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that Iran’s message of an “obliterating war” made it worthy of destruction.
”A regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed,” Katz said in a post on X. He also said Israel will act with full force against Iran-backed Hezbollah if it does not stop firing at Israel from Lebanon and move away from the border.
Iran’s UN mission said on Friday that if Israel embarks on a “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon, “an obliterating war will ensue.”
The Iranian mission also said in the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that in such an event “all options, incl. the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table.”
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel since October, in parallel with the Gaza war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said this week they prefer a diplomatic path to resolving the situation.
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