Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says Hezbollah and Hamas will not back down

In a rare public lecture before tens of thousands of people in the capital Tehran on October 4, Ali Khamenei officially supported the missile attack on Israel, considering it a "legitimate and legitimate" action in retaliation for the deaths of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.

More than 180 missiles were launched by Iran at Israel on October 1, in an unprecedented attack on the country's military infrastructure, making the situation in the region more tense than ever.

Meanwhile, the night of October 4 witnessed a series of fierce airstrikes on Yemen, with the capital Sana'a and the area near Hodeidah airport receiving continuous bombardments. Elsewhere, Israeli airstrikes continued to cause much suffering to the people of Gaza and Lebanon.

According to the Houthi report, four more airstrikes hit the Seiyana area in Sana'a and two airstrikes hit Dhamar province. The Houthi media office also reported three airstrikes in Bayda province, southeast of Sana'a.

The US military confirmed it carried out airstrikes on 15 targets in areas of Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels.

Israel's northern regions, which are currently fighting a nearly year-long war on multiple fronts, were repeatedly hit by Hezbollah rockets throughout October 4.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called on Muslims from "Afghanistan to Yemen, and from Iran to Gaza" to be ready for action and praised those who have died in the war.

It was the first time the 85-year-old had led prayers since the US killed Revolutionary Guards leader Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad in January 2020.

The Iranian government wants to show the world that the Iranian people are in favor of their country attacking Israel. They want to do this by holding a large ceremony at the Grand Mosque, where many people will attend together. In this way, they want to demonstrate that the Iranian people support revenge for the killing of two of their allies and the Brigadier General of the Revolutionary Guards Abbas Nilforoushan.

Although Khamenei called for unity among Muslims, his speech did not show much in the way of friendly relations with peaceful Arab states. Instead, he praised Hamas for its attacks on Israel last year, which killed thousands and sparked a war in Gaza. He said it was a “legitimate act” and that all the problems in the region were caused by foreign interference and Israel.

In Lebanon, Israeli forces carried out a series of airstrikes overnight on October 4. The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit and the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, used by tens of thousands of people fleeing Israeli bombing, was cut off.

The explosions in the suburbs sent plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings miles away in the capital. The Israeli military did not comment on their intended target and there were no immediate reports of casualties. Lebanon's National News Agency reported more than 10 successive airstrikes in the area.

Four hospitals, three in southern Lebanon and one in southern Beirut, have announced they will suspend services amid ongoing Israeli bombing. Late on October 4, Israel ordered residents in the southern suburbs of the capital to evacuate immediately ahead of further expected airstrikes.

Beirut authorities have released figures showing that more than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in nearly a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Responding to the figures, a spokesman for António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, condemned the “completely unacceptable” loss of civilian life in Lebanon.

The British government has chartered another flight out of Beirut, the Foreign Office said, urging any remaining British nationals who want to return home to register now. The flight will leave Beirut on October 6.

The Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah launched about 100 rockets into Israel on October 4. The agency claimed to have killed more than 250 Hezbollah fighters since ground operations began earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli troops in southern Lebanon on October 4.

In a statement, Hezbollah said militants had targeted "an Israeli army force during its advance" towards the western border village of Yarun "with artillery shells and a barrage of rockets", and claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Israeli soldiers.

The Guardian could not verify the claims by Israel or Hezbollah about the casualties they claim to have caused.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week made a direct appeal to ordinary Iranians to rise up and overthrow their leaders. He said that if the regime truly cared about their future, it would stop wasting billions of dollars on pointless wars across the Middle East and spend more on public services.

He laced his call with a warning that there was no place in the Middle East that Israel could not reach.

On the contrary, the aim of Iranian officials is to emphasize that Iranians feel closely tied to the resistance against Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, and are even willing to sacrifice their lives if war breaks out.

At a meeting held on October 3 in the capital Doha (Qatar), Gulf country leaders affirmed that they would not support a US attack on Iran but would remain neutral.

Linking Iran’s fate so closely to the Palestinian resistance movement is risky because Iran’s economy remains plagued by 31% inflation, low growth and falling living standards. Iran’s defense spending accounts for about 2.9% of GDP.