Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that recent airstrikes had “hit hard” Iran’s defences and missile production capabilities. This announcement comes as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei indicated that Iran is contemplating its response to the strikes.
The situation remains volatile, with warfare ongoing in Gaza and Lebanon, raising concerns about a potential regional escalation.
Following the airstrikes, heavy fighting continued in Lebanon, where an Israeli airstrike in Sidon reportedly killed eight people in a residential area, according to medical sources.Netanyahu, in a speech, described the attacks as “precise and powerful,” asserting that they successfully targeted Iran’s military capabilities directed at Israel.
Israeli army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, echoed this sentiment, emphasising that the strikes demonstrated Israel’s readiness to respond decisively to threats from its adversaries.Iran has not yet indicated its planned course of action following the airstrikes, which involved extensive bombing near Tehran and in the western provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan.
The UN Security Council is expected to convene on Monday to discuss the implications of the attack.
The long-standing adversaries have been engaged in a series of retaliatory actions, with Saturday’s strikes occurring in the aftermath of an Iranian missile barrage on October 1, most of which Israel claimed to have intercepted.Khamenei warned that Israel’s strategic calculations “should be disrupted,” and although he downplayed the severity of the attack, he stressed that it should neither be ignored nor overstated.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian affirmed that Iran is not seeking war but would respond appropriately to the strikes.In the midst of rising tensions, US President Joe Biden called for de-escalation, cautioning against a broader Middle East conflict that could arise from the ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Israel’s military actions in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant asserted that Iran’s influence through its allies, Hamas and Hezbollah, is waning, claiming both groups are no longer effective military tools for Tehran.
However, Hamas has stated it remains operational in Gaza, and Hezbollah has insisted that its command structure and missile capabilities are intact.
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