Iran warns Israel of ‘crushing response’ after Hezbollah attacks | News about the Israel-Palestine conflict

Israel will face “a crushing response from the axis of resistance,” Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami told Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to state media.

Salami made the remarks Thursday following unprecedented attacks over the previous two days on Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies that killed 37 people and injured more than 2,900 when hundreds of devices were detonated almost simultaneously.

The “axis of resistance” refers to Iran-aligned armed groups in the Middle East, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel has not commented directly on the blasts, but security sources said they were likely carried out by its spy agency, the Mossad.

“These terrorist acts are undoubtedly the result of desperation and successive failures of the Zionist regime (Israel). They will soon face a crushing response from the axis of resistance and we will witness the destruction of this bloodthirsty and criminal regime,” Salami said in his message to Nasrallah.

Fears of a regional conflagration are rekindled

Iran and Israel frequently exchange threats of mutual destruction. Their hostilities reached a climax in April, when Iran launched drones and missiles in its first direct attack on Israel in response to a deadly Israeli attack on its embassy in Syria that killed 13 people.

Tensions rose again in July when, within hours of each other, Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran after attending the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Many had hoped the killings could spark a wider regional war, but so far there has been no significant response.

In a speech Thursday, his first since this week’s attacks in Lebanon, Nasrallah called the blasts targeting Hezbollah members “a declaration of war” and vowed retaliation without giving a timetable for the response.

Nasrallah acknowledged that Hezbollah had suffered a “significant and unprecedented” blow, but also struck a defiant tone, saying Israel would face “just punishment.”

As he was delivering his televised speech, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said after the speech that Hezbollah “will pay an ever-increasing price” as Israel seeks to return residents to its northern areas, which were evacuated as a result of tit-for-tat attacks with Hezbollah across the border in Lebanon that began after Israel launched its war on Gaza on Oct. 7.

The exchanges of fire have forced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to flee their homes.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said it had attacked six Hezbollah “infrastructure sites” and a weapons depot overnight in southern Lebanon, a stronghold of the group.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency also reported Israeli strikes and bombings in several southern cities.

The Israeli military said two of its soldiers were killed near the border with Lebanon.

On Sunday, Yemen’s Houthis launched what they said was a hypersonic missile into central Israel, sparking fires, setting off air raid sirens and sending residents running for shelter in the area around Ben Gurion Airport.

The Houthis have been attacking ships they consider linked to Israel (in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait) since November, proclaiming their solidarity with the Palestinians and against Israel’s continuing war in Gaza.