US President Joe Bidenʼs administration is convinced that Iran plans to attack Israel in response to the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the coming days, and is preparing to counter it.
Axios reports this with reference to three American officials.
The United States expects that a possible attack on Israel will follow the same pattern as in April 2024, when Iran launched almost 150 missiles and more than 170 drones at Israel in a few hours. However, now it may be even more extensive and include strikes by the Lebanese group "Hezbollah", which also promised to take revenge for the death of its commander Fuad Shukr.
Israel does not admit its involvement in Haniyehʼs murder, despite Iranʼs accusations. However, the Biden administration is concerned that it will now be more difficult to mobilize the same international and regional coalition of countries that defended Israel against the previous Iranian attack in April. Then Israel was helped by air defense and fighter jets of the USA and Great Britain. Not a single drone entered Israelʼs airspace — they were shot down in the territory of Jordan and Iraq.
What preceded
On July 27, Lebanon struck the village of Majdal-Shams on the Golan Heights in the north of Israel. The rockets hit the football field, where there were children at the time — 12 children and teenagers were killed, and more than 30 were injured. The Israeli army blamed the attack on Hezbollah, which the group denies.
Already on July 30, Israel attacked Beirut in response to an attack by Hezbollah. The target of the strike was the Hezbollah commander believed to be responsible for the deaths of the children Fuad Shukra a senior adviser to the groupʼs leader Hassan Nasrallah.
And on July 31, one of the leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas Ismail Haniyeh was killed in the capital of Iran, Tehran. This happened after he took part in the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Iran, Massoud Pezeshkian. The New York Times later found out that Hania was killed by a bomb hidden in his guest house.
Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei ordered a direct attack on Israel after Haniyehʼs death. According to the Financial Times, after that, American and European diplomats held urgent talks in the Middle East to prevent a large-scale escalation, because Israel is threatened with retaliation by both Iran and Hezbollah.