It was a day of dire warnings with the spotlight turning on Lebanon and Hezbollah and the spectre of another front opening up in the north, drawing Iran into the 'contagion of conflicts'. Iran cautioned the United States that Israel's war with Hamas could 'spiral out of control' if they do not 'immediately' cease strikes on Gaza, even as the Israeli government warned it would target Tehran if Hezbollah escalates the conflict.
Israel & Iran Threatens Each Other
“We are now in a double battle,” said Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as he joined soldiers on the Lebanese border as they held off Hezbollah from opening a second front. At the same time, he asked Iran-backed terrorists to desist from making the 'biggest mistake of their lives' by entering a war with Israel.
There was sabre-rattling on the Iranian side, too. “I warn the US and its proxy (Israel) that if they do not immediately stop the crime against humanity and genocide in Gaza, anything is possible at any moment and the region will go out of control,” Iran's foreign minister said, a few hours before Netanyahu’s warning.
Fear rises of a widening regional conflict
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments alongside his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor at a joint news conference in Tehran. The chilling warnings came even as there was no letup in either the Israeli attacks on Gaza over the weekend or any lull in the Hamas assault on Israeli cities. On the contrary, escalation in Israeli clashes on Lebanon border and strikes in Syria and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank raised fears of a widening regional conflict. According to a news agency, Israel struck at the deepest point yet in Lebanon, with a missile hitting the Jezzine region, 10 miles from the Israeli border.
The fear of heightened hostilities on the Lebanon border led to the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, Israel’s northernmost city, with a population of about 20,000 people. Meanwhile, Syria’s state-run news agency said the airports in Damascus and Aleppo were shut after an early morning strike by Israel that killed one civilian worker. Israel believes that Iran uses the two airports to ferry weapons to its allies in the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon. In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, Naim Qassem, said in a televised address that the armed group was in the heart of the battle. He said.
