US president Joe Biden has said he does not support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities as the region braced for the response to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.
“The answer is no,” Mr Biden said when asked by a reporter whether the US would support a retaliatory strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.
He added that the G7 was working on a statement in response to Tuesday’s missile attack, warning that Iran would face sanctions for its actions.
Israel stepped up its offensive against Iran-backed Hizbullah on Wednesday as fears of an all-out war in the Middle East intensified.
The Israel Defense Forces bombarded the Iran-backed militant group’s strongholds in southern Beirut, while elite commando units faced fierce resistance from Hizbullah fighters as they breached the Lebanese border.
Eight Israeli soldiers were killed and several injured, the Israeli military said, as the IDF’s “targeted” raids into Lebanese territory carried into a second day. Hizbullah said it had engaged Israeli troops in at least three different locations along the border, killing and wounding several.
The escalating battles came as prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation against Tehran after dozens of missiles were fired into Israel.
“Iran made a big mistake – and it will pay for it,” he said on Tuesday. “Whoever attacks us, we will attack them.”
The surprise missile attack by Iran, which it said was in response to Israeli assassinations of senior leaders of Hizbullah and Hamas, has brought the region even closer to an all-out conflict as Israel escalates its offensive against Tehran’s proxies.
In the past two weeks, Israel has assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, launched waves of strikes against the militant group in Lebanon, bombed a port controlled by Houthi rebels in Yemen, and been blamed for explosions in Syria.
On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Beirut, while its forces continued the ground offensive they began against Hizbullah in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.
Israel also struck Damascus on Wednesday afternoon, killing three civilians, according to Syrian state media.
Hizbullah said on Wednesday that its fighters had repelled a group of Israeli troops “trying to penetrate” the southern community of Odeisseh, close to the border.
Hours later, Hizbullah said it had engaged in clashes with Israeli troops about 20km southwest of Odeisseh, and detonated an explosive device that killed and injured a group of Israeli troops in the vicinity of the village of Yaroun.
Following Tuesday’s missile barrage, the White House pledged to join Israel in exacting “severe consequences” from Iran.
Only a handful of the Iranian missiles slipped past Israel’s sophisticated air defences, including one that appeared to have struck near the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service.
One death was reported in the Palestinian city of Jericho, where a man was struck by debris from an intercepted missile.
A person briefed on the situation said Iran had targeted military and intelligence infrastructure near Tel Aviv and other facilities elsewhere in the country.
Iran said the strikes were retaliation for Israel’s targeted killings across the region, including Nasrallah on Friday, and threatened to respond if Israel retaliated.
“Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Araghchi said he had spoken to his UK, German and French counterparts, warning that while Iran did not seek war, it was “not afraid of it”. He also urged “any third party” to refrain from intervening, a clear reference to the US.
On Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to blame the US and European countries for the escalation in the region.
“The cause of all regional problems is the presence of those very parties who falsely advocate peace and stability in the region,” he said, without making any reference to Iran’s missile strike on Israel.
Hizbullah spokesman Mohammed Afif said on Wednesday that its conflict with Israel would be fought “in rounds”. “If you have defeated us in this round, it is only the first,” he said.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel on Wednesday, saying Iran risked “setting the whole region on fire”. “We must prevent that at all costs,” he said. “Hizbullah and Iran must immediately stop their attacks on Israel.”
On Wednesday, Israel barred UN secretary general António Guterres from entering the country over what the foreign ministry said was his failure to “unequivocally condemn” Iran’s missile attack.
Israeli warplanes carried out heavy bombardments in Beirut and southern Lebanon on Tuesday night. Over the past two weeks, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and forced up to a million from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.
The air strikes came after Israel issued new evacuation orders for about 20 villages and towns in southern Lebanon, which is largely empty after days of intensive strikes that have flattened residential buildings in densely populated neighbourhoods.
The depth of Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon remained unclear more than a day after the Israel Defense Forces said it was conducting targeted raids just across its northern border.
The IDF said it was sending additional forces to join what it said were “limited, localised, targeted raids” into Lebanese territory, including troops from the Golani infantry brigade and a separate armoured brigade.
Israeli troops have been conducting covert raids into the area for nearly a year since Hizbullah began firing into northern Israel a day after Hamas’s October 7th attack.
Israel said they had killed two more Hizbullah commanders on Tuesday.
There were 55 dead and 156 wounded in Israeli attacks across Lebanon on Tuesday. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024