Israel reserves ‘right to protect itself’
Diplomats scurry to calm Middle East
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country reserved the right to protect itself after Iran’s unprecedented attack, and that it alone would decide how to do so.
Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend in an attack that caused little damage after most of the projectiles were intercepted.
The Israeli military has vowed to respond, prompting a diplomatic flurry aimed at calming the Middle East.
Israel’s allies in Washington and Brussels have pledged to ramp up sanctions against Iran, while British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock became the first Western envoys to visit Israel since the attack.
Netanyahu told the visiting ministers that Israel “will reserve the right to protect itself”, his office said.
The pair offered “all kinds of suggestions and advice” during a meeting, Netanyahu said. “However, I would also like to clarify: we will make our decisions ourselves.”
For his part, Cameron said “we’re very anxious to avoid escalation and to say to our friends in Israel: It’s a time to think with head as well as heart.”
Baerbock emphasised that “the region must not slide into a situation whose outcome is completely unpredictable”.
Tehran has vowed to hit back if its arch-foe Israel responds to the
Saturday attack, which itself was launched after a deadly strike on Iran’s Damascus consulate building earlier this month that was widely blamed on Israel.
Citing three unnamed Israeli sources, ABC News reported yesterday that “Israel prepared for and then aborted retaliatory strikes against Iran on at least two nights this past week.”
Among the range of possible reactions considered by the Israeli war cabinet were options to attack Iranian proxies elsewhere in the region or to conduct a cyberattack, the sources told ABC.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza that has sent regional tensions soaring continued unabated with efforts at a truce appearing to flounder, as key mediator Qatar said it was re-evaluating its role in the stalling negotiations.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned after the attack of “a fierce and severe response” to any retaliation, and on Wednesday his country celebrated its annual
Army Day with a parade featuring various attack drones and longrange missiles.
Also on Wednesday, Tehranbacked Hezbollah wounded 14 soldiers, six seriously, in a strike on northern Israel, the Israeli army said.
This was the third day in a row the Lebanese group had wounded people in Israel, amid near-daily cross-border fire since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Later, Israel hit targets in eastern Lebanon, far from the border, said a Hezbollah source.
Israel’s top ally the United States has made clear it won’t join any attack on Iran, vowing instead to level more sanctions against the country’s missile and drone programme, its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Defence Ministry.
The Israel-Iran tensions have threatened to overshadow the Gaza war, even as deadly bombardment and combat raged in the besieged territory.
Talks towards a truce and hostage release deal have stalled, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman AlThani, despite months of effort also involving US and Egyptian officials.
He later said that his country was undertaking “a complete reevaluation of its role because there has been damage to Qatar”, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Israeli military said Wednesday its aircraft had “struck over 40 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” over the past day.
Israel has faced growing global opposition to the relentless fighting in Gaza, which the United Nations and aid agencies have warned has pushed the north of the territory to the brink of famine.
But Netanyahu rejected any claims about famine on Wednesday, saying Israel is doing “above and beyond” what is needed “on the humanitarian issue”, his office said.