Israel is braced for potential attacks by Iran and Hezbollah in the coming days, even as early as Monday, and is assessing that assaults could come from several fronts, several media reported at the weekend.
Also, the US is scrambling to revive a regional coalition that earlier this year succeeded in almost entirely thwarting a previous direct Iranian attack on Israel, reports said, while Israeli officials concede that this time around there may be damage and casualties.
An Iranian attack could come as soon as Monday, according to the Axios website that cited US and Israeli officials.
Iran, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas blame Israel for the killing in Tehran on Wednesday of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
His assassination came just hours after a strike claimed by Israel killed Hezbollah’s military chief, Fuad Shukr, on Tuesday evening near Beirut. Israel has claimed responsibility for killing Shukr, but has not officially commented on Haniyeh, whose death Hamas, Iran and their allies have blamed on Israel.
Both Iran and Hezbollah have vowed revenge for the killings that came amid already explosive tensions against the background of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel that the Iran-backed terror group says are in support of Gaza.
The Israeli security establishment is on “peak alert” and members of a US-led international coalition — including Britain and allied Arab states — aimed at thwarting potential Iranian attacks on “several fronts” are braced to try to deter and intercept them, Channel 12 reported.
Among the precautions taken are patrols by combat aircraft and warships of allied countries in the area, the report said, without citing sources or providing further details.
Israel’s leadership has been holding discussions on how the country would respond to such attacks, including what the network described as “a readiness for an entry into all-out war in this context.”
Ministers have been told to be ready for any scenario and that an attack could come at any time and could involve “thousands” of destroyed sites, the report said.
It said the killing of Hamas’s Haniyeh at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-run guesthouse in the heart of Tehran left the regime feeling “deeply penetrated” and “completely exposed” to Israeli intelligence.
The report noted that Iran had already impacted Israel by prompting the cancellation of flights by numerous foreign airlines and by inducing concern among Israelis over an imminent attack.
In April, Iran launched over 300 missiles and drones at Israel in response to the killing of two senior army generals in a Damascus strike that Tehran blamed on Israel.
The wave was intercepted by Israeli air defences alongside a major US-led coalition of regional forces that included British and French warplanes, as well as, reportedly, intelligence and radar resources from some Arab nations.
A few missiles made it through the shield causing very minor damage at an air base, though a young Bedouin girl was seriously injured by falling shrapnel from an intercept.
The US, which has vowed to help defend Israel from Iran, is now hoping to conjure up a similar coordinated array of forces to stop an Iranian attack.
However, the report said Washington was worried it may be more difficult to secure the same cooperation from regional countries amid anti-Israel feelings over the assassination of Haniyeh.
US officials believe an Iranian response will be similar to the April attack, but could be larger and also include Hezbollah fire from Lebanon.
Axios noted that US and Israeli officials said they do not know if Hezbollah will join an Iranian attack or seek revenge in a separate assault of its own. The officials said that both Iran and Hezbollah have not yet completed their attack preparations or gotten final approval at the political level.
On Friday, the US said it was sending more planes and warships to the region to counter a possible Iranian attack.
Meanwhile, the French and US foreign ministers called on all sides in the Middle East “to exercise the utmost restraint” to prevent a regional conflict, France’s foreign ministry said at the weekend.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne discussed the rising tension in the region by telephone with his US counterpart Antony Blinken, said a ministry spokesman.
“They agreed to continue to call on all parties to exercise the utmost restraint to prevent any regional conflagration that would have devastating consequences for the countries in the region,” he said.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stressed in a phone call with Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani that recent developments in the region were “unprecedented, very dangerous” and threatening to stability, Egypt’s government said.
Regional tensions have spiralled dangerously since October 7 when Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages taken. Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas and free the hostages.
Meanwhile, several countries have urged their nationals to leave Lebanon, as fears grow of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas political chief Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. Israel has not commented.
His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah senior commander Shukr in Beirut.
Western officials fear that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia and political movement based in Lebanon, could play a key role in any such retaliation, which in turn could spark a serious Israeli response.
The US, the UK, Australia, Sweden, France, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are among the countries that have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.
Fears of an escalation of hostilities that could engulf Lebanon are at their highest since Hezbollah started its attacks on Israel, a day after the deadly Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, in support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Most of the violence has been contained to border areas, with both sides indicating not being interested in a wider conflict.
Hezbollah, however, has vowed to respond to Shukr’s assassination, which happened in Dahiyeh, the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Also, on Sunday, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at the town of Beit Hillel in northern Israel at around 00:25 local time.
Footage posted on social media showed Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system intercepting the rockets. There have been no reports of casualties. Israel’s air force responded by striking targets in southern Lebanon.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said Israel will suffer a “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing.
Haniyeh’s assassination dealt a blow to the negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, the main hope to defuse tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border.
The war began in October when Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.
The attack triggered a massive Israeli military response, which has killed at least 39,480 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Also, President Joe Biden hopes Iran backs down from conflict with Israel – after Hezbollah fires rocket barrage from Lebanon.
Tensions are rising further in the region after Hamas’s top political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Iran has pledged to avenge his death, with its proxies already escalating attacks against Israel. Hamas and Iran both accuse Israel of carrying out the killing.
The US will deploy additional warships and fighter jets to the Middle East to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies, the Pentagon said.
Tensions remain high in the region over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and a key commander of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Missile defence forces were placed on a state of increased readiness to deploy, the Pentagon said, adding that its commitment to defend Israel was “ironclad”.
Iran’s leader Ayatollah Khamenei has vowed “harsh punishment” against Israel for the assassination of Haniyeh.
A Pentagon statement said the new deployments would “improve US force protection… increase support for the defence of Israel, and … ensure the US is prepared to respond to various contingencies”.
The deployments would include additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers, it said.
Earlier, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the US did not believe escalation was inevitable.
“I think we are being very direct in our messaging that certainly we don’t want to see heightened tensions and we do believe there is an off-ramp here and that is that ceasefire deal,” Singh said.
An Israeli delegation will travel to Cairo in coming days for negotiations to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday.
Hamas sparked the war with its 7 October attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people. Israel responded with an ongoing military operation in Gaza that has killed almost 40,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
At the weekend, the Daily Telegraph reported that Iranian agents hired by Israel’s Mossad spy agency had planted bombs in a building where Haniyeh was staying.
The newspaper said that two agents placed bombs in three rooms of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp guesthouse in Tehran, which were detonated from abroad.
Israel has warned that if an all-out war erupted, its military actions would go far harder and deeper than the 2006 conflagration.
Top United States general is in the Middle East as the US and Israel prepare for a possible attack from Iran that may happen “as early as Monday morning”.
Emmanuel Addeh
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