47.8 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Lebanon: Israeli Strikes are “Declaration of War”–Bibi Tells Nasrallah to “Calm Down”

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Edited by: Fern Sidman

The Hezbollah terror organization is planning a massive attack on Israel in the near future, and Israel should be prepared for an attack from the Gaza Strip as well, analysts in Israel and the Arab world estimate, according to a report by the Tazpit Press Service.

Speaking from a bunker in Beirut on Sunday, TPS reported that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah said that Israeli troops on Lebanon’s border should “stand on a leg and a half and wait for our response which may take place at any time on the borders and beyond the borders.”

“Hezbollah will not allow such an aggression,” Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that the drones were on a “suicide mission. The time when Israeli aircraft come and bombard parts of Lebanon is over.” Photo Credit: www.alaraby.co.uk

“Hezbollah will not allow such an aggression,” Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that the drones were on a “suicide mission”.

“The time when Israeli aircraft come and bombard parts of Lebanon is over.”

TPS reported that he was responding to the Israeli Air Force’s (IAF) attack on Iranian terror targets in southern Syria that prevented a “pending, large-scale attack of multiple killer drones.”

Later on Sunday, Iraq’s powerful Hashd al-Shaabi force, or Popular Mobilization Forces(PMF), blamed Israel for carrying out the drone attack close to the border with Syria.

Analysts who watched Nasrallah’s address and have monitored his actions over the years say he does intend to act on his threats.

The IAF struck Iranian Quds Force operatives and Shiite militia targets in Syria in the town of Aqraba, situated south-east of Damascus. Hezbollah operatives Hasan Yousif Zbib and Yasir Ahmad Dahir were killed in the strike.

The Iranian-led forces were planning to launch armed drones at Israeli targets in the coming days, the IDF said.

Al Jazeera reported that Lebanon’s president Michel Aoun said an Israeli drone attack on Beirut on the weekend was a “declaration of war” that justified a military response.

“What happened is a declaration of war,” Michel Aoun told Jan Kubis, the United Nations’ special coordinator for Lebanon, in a meeting on Monday, according to the Al Jazeera report.

“This allows us to resort to our right to defend our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” he added, in a statement released by his office.

Also on Monday Al Jazeera reported that Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri said his government wants to avoid an escalation with Israel, but the international community must reject Israel’s “blatant violation” of Lebanese sovereignty.

Israeli analyst Yoni Ben Menachem believes that Nasrallah is preparing the ground for an attack on Israel, that he intends to follow through with his threats, and that he is currently planning the assault with his military chiefs, as was reported by TPS.

Ben Menachem further thinks that the attack will not be a limited strike as in similar incidents in recent years but will be “on the borders and beyond the borders,” a much broader assault, according to the TPS report.

A significant attack by Hezbollah on Israel will elicit a strong response from Israel that will hit Lebanon in its entirety. Such events could lead to a regional war.

Ben Menachem, an analyst with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), also estimated that an attack from Lebanon will ignite another front with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. The two terror organizations are committed to a form of defense pact with Iran, as was reported by TPS.

A Hamas delegation, led by Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri, visited Tehran in July and agreed with the Iranian leadership on “a new unified front” against Israel, which includes Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Shi’ite militias in Iraq.

TPS reported that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah sent a letter to Iran’s leadership with the delegation pledging Hamas’ allegiance in an event of an attack by Israel or the US.

Ben Menachem said that Israel must, therefore, respond forcefully to any aggression emanating from Gaza, as Hamas will commit its entire arsenal to a war on Israel if the latter clashes with Hezbollah or Iranian forces, as was reported by TPS.

“Israel must be prepared for a military front in the north and simultaneously in the south. The Iranian octopus will activate all its tentacles in an event of a confrontation with Israel, which must be well prepared,” he wrote Tuesday.

He suggested that Israel consider a preemptive strike against potential threats.

TPS reported that the IDF issued stringent and limiting guidelines to IDF forces operating on the border with Lebanon to minimize Hezbollah possible targets.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Tuesday that he “heard Nasrallah’s words. I suggest Nasrallah relax. He knows very well that the State of Israel knows how to defend itself and how to pay back its enemies. I want to tell him and the Lebanese state, which is sheltering this organization that aspires to destroy us, and I also say this to Iranian General Qassim Suleimani: be careful with your words and be even more careful with your actions,” Netanyahu warned. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Tuesday that he “heard Nasrallah’s words. I suggest Nasrallah relax. He knows very well that the State of Israel knows how to defend itself and how to pay back its enemies.”

“I want to tell him and the Lebanese state, which is sheltering this organization that aspires to destroy us, and I also say this to Iranian General Qassim Suleimani: be careful with your words and be even more careful with your actions,” Netanyahu warned.

A report on the Middle East Monitor web site indicated that Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa has defended Israel’s recent attacks on Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as “self-defense”, in yet another sign of normalizing relations between the two states.

Middle East Monitor reported that Israel has been linked to multiple attacks throughout the region in the past week, including an attack on the Iraq-Syria border, a compound in central Syria and a drone attack on Lebanese capital Beirut.

Appearing to respond to Aoun, Salih and Abdul Mahdi’s comments, Bahrain’s Al Khalifa wrote on Twitter:

“Iran is the one who has declared a war on us, with its Revolutionary Guards Corps, its Lebanese party [Hezbollah], its Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, its Houthi arm in Yemen and others. So one who strikes and destroys their piles of ammunition is not to blame. That is self-defense.”

Al Khalifa also tweeted a picture of Article 51, Chapter Seven in the United Nations Charter which “very clearly affirms the right of states to defend themselves against any threat or aggression.”

According to a report on Middle East Monitor, last month Al Khalifa met Israel’s Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz on the side-lines of the Advance Religious Freedom conference held in Washington. A statement released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that the meeting – the first of its kind in public – was “coordinated behind the scenes by the US State Department”.

Middle East Monitor also reported that Katz posted a photo with Al-Khalifa on Twitter, claiming that he “met publicly with the foreign minister of Bahrain,” which he cited as “another example of our growing diplomatic connections”.

As a follow up to the meeting, Middle East Monitor reported that this month Katz sent Eid greetings to his “friend” Al Khalifa, saying he “would like to wish you and the people of Bahrain a blessed Eid Al-Adha holiday.”

“I hope that the heritage of the sons of Abraham, which we share with you, will lead to peace and brotherhood between the two peoples of Israel and Bahrain and to cooperation between the two countries. I look forward to seeing you again soon,” Katz added.

Iraq’s military spokesman Yehya Rasool told AFP news agency on Monday the government had launched a new investigation into Sunday’s attack, according to the Al Jazeera report.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli drones attacked a Palestinian base in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Three attacks which came minutes apart struck a base for a Syrian-backed group known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command (PFLP-GC), an ally of Hezbollah, as was reported by Al Jazeera.

PBS News reported that a powerful bloc in Iraq’s parliament called on Monday for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, following the series of air strikes that have been blamed on Israel.

The Fatah Coalition said it holds the United States fully responsible for the alleged Israeli aggression, “which we consider to be a declaration of war on Iraq and its people,” according to the PBS report. It added that U.S. troops are no longer needed in Iraq.

The Shiite militiamen, meanwhile, held a funeral procession in Baghdad for the commander killed Sunday.

“There is no greater God but God!” the mourners shouted as they marched behind a banner with the words “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

The Defense Department issued a statement Monday denying responsibility for the recent attacks and promising to cooperate with Iraqi investigations, according to the PBS report.

“We support Iraqi sovereignty and have repeatedly spoken out against any potential actions by external actors inciting violence in Iraq, ” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan R. Hoffman said. “The government of Iraq has the right to control their own internal security and protect their democracy.”

According to the PBS report, U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011, but returned in 2014 at the invitation of the government to help battle the Islamic State group after it seized vast areas in the north and west of the country, including Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul. A U.S.-led coalition provided crucial air support as Iraqi forces regrouped and, together with the PMF, drove IS out in a costly three-year campaign.

In a related development, it was reported that Four mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF responded by shelling an observation post belonging to the Hamas terror organization near the Gaza border, website 0404 reports.

World Israel News reported that only one of the mortars made it onto Israeli territory, landing in an open field. No injuries were reported. The other three landed within the Hamas side of the Gaza fence.

The Hamas observation post struck by the IDF was empty.

It’s not clear if Hamas carried out the attack or another terror group. According to Hamas, recent attacks have been carried out by individuals and other organizations. Israeli pundits and politicians have also said that Hamas is not interested in escalation at this time.

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -