Fear as Iran vows revenge
RUSSIA and Germany yesterday urged countries in the Middle East to show restraint and Israel said it was preparing to “meet all its security needs” in a region on edge over an Iranian threat to strike Israel. German airline Lufthansa, one of only two Western carriers flying to Tehran, extended a suspension of its flights to the Iranian capital and Russia warned against travel to the Middle East.
Iran has vowed revenge for the April 1 airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus that killed a top Iranian general and six other Iranian military officers, ratcheting up tension in a region strained by the Gaza war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was keeping up its war in Gaza but making security preparations elsewhere.
“Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively,” he said after a visit to an air force base.
Conflict has spread across the Middle East since the eruption of the Gaza war, with Iran-backed groups declaring support for the Palestinians waging attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Tehran has avoided direct confrontation with Israel or the US, while declaring support for its allies.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian to urge “maximum restraint” to avoid further escalation.
Russia’s foreign ministry told citizens they should not travel to the Middle East, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
“Right now it’s very important for everyone to maintain restraint so as not to lead to a complete destabilisation of the situation in the region, which doesn’t exactly shine with stability and predictability,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the April 1 attack, for which Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this week that Israel “must be punished and it shall be”, adding it was tantamount to an attack on Iranian soil.
US President Joe Biden said Iran was threatening a “significant attack in Israel”, and that he had told Netanyahu “our commitment to Israel security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is iron-clad”.
Iran is the third-largest oil producer in the Opec group and oil prices rose after jumping a dollar a barrel in the previous session.
Lufthansa said it would probably not fly to Tehran before tomorrow. Austrian Airlines said it was still planning to fly yesterday but was adjusting timings to avoid crew having to disembark for an overnight layover. Iranian air space is also a key overflight route for Emirates’ and Qatar Airways’ flights to Europe and North America.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported yesterday that Israeli forces killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Gaza without consulting senior commanders or political leaders, including Netanyahu. Quoting senior Israeli officials, Walla news agency said neither Netanyahu nor Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had been told in advance of the strike, which was co-ordinated by the Israeli military and Shin Bet intelligence service.
It said Amir, Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh had been targeted as fighters and not because they were the sons of Hamas’s political leader. The Israeli military did not comment on reports that four of Haniyeh’s grandchildren had also been killed. The military declined to comment on the reports and no comment was available from the prime minister’s office.
The killing of Haniyeh’s relatives has added a potential complication to negotiations aimed at securing a halt in the fighting in Gaza in exchange for the return of the 133 Israeli hostages still believed to be held in the enclave.
“I can only hope this won’t affect the negotiation. I hope it won’t make Hamas put harder conditions on the deal,” said Ofri Levy Bibas, whose brother Yarden Bibas was taken captive with his wife and two small children during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7. The conservative Israel Hayom daily quoted military officials saying the strike was carried out in accordance with procedure but there was a question about whether hitting such a sensitive target should have been carried out without first consulting superiors.
The left-wing Haaretz newspaper, a critic of Netanyahu and his government, called the killing and last week’s assassination of senior Iranian officials in the Iranian embassy in Damascus “proactive acts of aggression, designed to thwart any chance of a hostage deal”. The incident came days after two officers were dismissed for misjudgement and breaches of operating procedures in a strike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven aid workers.
Haniyeh said Hamas had “clear and specific” demands for agreeing to any pause in the fighting. “The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position,” he said.
Global calls for a ceasefire have been growing as the war has entered its seventh month but there has been little sign of progress in the talks. Hamas is demanding an end to the Israeli offensive, a withdrawal of Israeli forces and permission for Gaza’s displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
Israel wants to secure the return of the hostages but says it will not end the war until Hamas is destroyed as a military force, and that it is still planning to assault the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million civilians have taken refuge.
Most Israeli troops have been pulled out of Gaza, in preparation for an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering, but fighting has continued in areas of the enclave.
Residents and militants said fighters have engaged in gunbattles with Israeli forces, which invaded the northern and southern areas of the al-Nuseirat refugee camp.
Israeli bombardments from air, ground, and the sea, which destroyed several buildings including two mosques, were almost non-stop, they said.