(Jerusalem) Diplomatic maneuvers are intensifying on Monday in an attempt to avoid a military escalation in the Middle East between Iran and its allies on the one hand and Israel on the other, at a time when many countries are calling on their nationals to leave Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was ready to confront “Iran and its henchmen on all fronts.” “Anyone who kills our citizens or harms our country […] will pay a very high price,” he warned on Sunday evening.
In this context of strong concerns, the Israeli air force broke the sound barrier twice over Beirut on Monday, according to an official media outlet, and rocket warning sirens sounded in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon. In the south of the country, around fifteen rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, most of them intercepted, according to the army.
Iran, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the death Wednesday of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in his Tehran residence. The day before, Israel claimed responsibility for a strike that killed Hezbollah military leader Fouad Shokr near Beirut.
PHOTO ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Protesters hold posters of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during a rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in Rabat, Morocco, Saturday, August 3, 2024.
Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, but had vowed to destroy Hamas after the movement’s unprecedented October 7 attack on its soil that sparked the devastating war in Gaza.
Since then, Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi rebels, who together with Hamas and Iraqi armed groups form what Iran calls the “axis of resistance”, have opened new fronts against Israel.
But last week’s assassinations prompted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to say that Israel had crossed “red lines”, while Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei threatened “severe punishment”.
“Iran has the legal right to punish” Israel, Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanani insisted in Tehran on Monday.
” On all fronts ”
Faced with the risk of a regional conflagration, several Arab and Western countries are increasing their diplomatic efforts and calling for calm.
The G7 foreign ministers, meeting by videoconference on Sunday, said they feared “a regionalization of the crisis, starting with Lebanon”, where neighboring Israel would retaliate in the event of an attack by Hezbollah, and called for “avoiding a new escalation”.
According to the American media outlet Axios, Mr. Blinken told his G7 counterparts that an attack by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel could be launched within the next 24 to 48 hours, therefore as early as Monday, according to three sources informed of the discussions.
Antony Blinken also spoke by telephone with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Soudani about the “importance of measures” of appeasement, in the face of the possibility of attacks by pro-Iranian Iraqi armed groups.
PHOTO MUNKHBAYAR MAGVANDORJ, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State
And Jordan sent its foreign minister to Iran on Sunday.
Israel’s main ally, the United States, which has strengthened its military presence in the Middle East, said it was trying “simultaneously to defuse the situation diplomatically.”
“We are determined to oppose” Iran and its allies “on all fronts, in all arenas, near and far,” Mr. Netanyahu hammered home during a ceremony Sunday evening in Jerusalem.
“We are capable of protecting our citizens against any threat posed” by the “Iranian axis of evil,” said President Isaac Herzog at his side.
According to the army, a new system to alert the population has been launched. “The alert will be sent to mobile phones in the threatened area.”
Shooting at the Israeli-Lebanese border
In the meantime, many countries including Sweden, the United States, Britain, France, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have called on their nationals to leave Lebanon.
Several airlines have suspended flights to Beirut, including Germany’s Lufthansa until August 12, and Air France and Transavia until Tuesday inclusive, and Kuwait Airways. Lufthansa has also suspended flights to Tel Aviv until August 8.
The Lebanese Health Ministry reported on Monday four deaths since the previous evening in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing on military sites in northern Israel.
Two Israeli soldiers were injured in Upper Galilee (North), according to the army.
These exchanges of fire have been occurring almost daily since October 8 on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
At the same time, the Israeli army is continuing its offensive against the Palestinian territory of Gaza, besieged, ravaged and threatened with famine according to the UN, where Hamas – considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union – took power in 2007.
Its October 7 attack in southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who have died, according to the army.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has so far killed 39,623 people, according to data from the Hamas-run Gaza government’s health ministry, which does not provide details on the number of civilian and combat deaths.