Israel launches further ground operation in southwest Lebanon, Iran issues warning

Ton public and warning

Regional tensions that erupted a year ago after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched attacks in southern Israel have escalated into a series of Israeli ground and air campaigns in Lebanon and direct Iranian attacks on Israeli military facilities, Reuters reported.

Iran warned Israel on October 8 against any attack on the Islamic Republic, a week after Tehran fired a barrage of missiles at the country, putting the Middle East on alert.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said any attack on Iranian infrastructure would be met with retaliation, while warning Israel against carrying out attacks on his country.

Starting on October 8, Mr. Araqchi will visit Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East to discuss regional issues and efforts to stop Israel's "crimes" in Gaza and Lebanon, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.

Gulf states have sought to reassure Iran of their neutrality in the Iran-Israel conflict, sources told Reuters last week.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military has added pressure on the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah force, saying it is conducting "limited, localized and targeted operations" in southwestern Lebanon after announcing similar operations against its southeastern border area.

The Israeli military attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight on October 7 and said it had killed a senior Hezbollah member responsible for the group's budget and logistics.

If confirmed, the death of Suhail Hussein Husseini would be the latest in a series of Israeli assassinations targeting leaders and commanders of Hezbollah and its ally Hamas.

In the biggest blow to Hezbollah in decades, Israel killed the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut late last month.

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country said on October 8 that their repeated calls for restraint had “fallen unheeded” over the past year, since the exchange of fire began between Hezbollah and Israel.

“Now, a year later, the near-daily exchanges of fire have escalated into a relentless military campaign, whose humanitarian impact has reached catastrophic proportions,” they said in a joint statement.

Israel gradually expand the campaign

The attacks have raised fears that the United States, Israel's closest ally, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will be drawn into a full-scale conflict in the oil-producing Middle East.

Tensions between arch-enemies Iran and Israel are running high after years of covert warfare and assassinations turned into direct confrontations that have strained the region.

Israel has been weighing options to respond to Tehran's ballistic missile attack last week, which was carried out in response to Israeli military action in Lebanon.

US news website Axios quoted Israeli officials as saying that Iranian oil facilities could be attacked, which would be a serious escalation that could push up global oil prices.

President Joe Biden said on Friday he would consider alternatives to attacking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet reached a conclusion on how to deal with Iran.

Israeli airstrikes have forced 1.2 million Lebanese to flee their homes, and Israel's intensified bombing campaign has left many Lebanese fearful that their country will suffer the same terrible devastation Israel inflicted in Gaza.

Israeli forces have issued an Arabic-language warning to people to stay away from a stretch of the Lebanese coast, saying they will soon begin operations against Hezbollah from the sea.

About 2,000 Lebanese have been killed since Hezbollah began firing on Israel a year ago in solidarity with Hamas, most of them in the past few weeks.

The Israeli military has described its ground operations in Lebanon as localized and limited, but has gradually increased in scale since last week.

The Israel Defense Forces said their goal was to clear border areas where Hezbollah fighters were hiding, and had no plans to advance deep into Lebanon.

Israeli officials confirm Hamas leader is still alive