The IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the US had warned Israel about Iranʼs intention to launch missiles at the country. However, there are currently no aerial threats to Israel.
This is reported by The Times of Israel.
"Our air defense systems are fully ready, and planes are patrolling the sky. We, together with our partners from the USA, are on maximum offensive and defensive alertness and are closely monitoring developments in Iran. An Iranian attack on Israel will have consequences,” Hagari said.
Before that, an American official from the White House, who wished to remain unnamed, said that Iran plans to attack Israel with ballistic missiles "in the near future" and the United States is "actively supporting defensive preparations to protect Israel from this attack."
In this way, Tehran plans to take revenge on Israel for the deaths of leaders of Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
Some senior US and Israeli officials worry that Israelʼs ground invasion of Lebanon, which it launched on September 30, and the assassination of a longtime ally of Iranʼs supreme leader, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, will prompt Iran to do more to rescue the groups it has built up over decades.
What preceded
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated this September. During the month, Israel regularly struck Lebanon.
On September 17, hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded in Lebanon. Because of this, 12 people died, almost 3 thousand were injured. Reuters, citing sources, writes that Israelʼs foreign intelligence service Mossad planted explosives in 5 000 pagers imported by the Lebanese Hezbollah group a few months before the explosions. ABC News notes that Israel has been preparing for the operation for at least 15 years. The Israeli president has officially denied the countryʼs involvement in blowing up pagers in Lebanon.
On September 18, a repeated series of explosions thundered in Lebanon. Walkie-talkies used by members of the Lebanese Hezbollah group and car radios were detonated. 14 people died, another 450 were injured. On the same day, Israel announced a "new phase" of the war — it would be fought mainly in the north of the country, which borders Lebanon. Since then, firefights between the IDF and Hezbollah have intensified.
On September 20, IDF struck the Hezbollah high command in Beirut. The commander of the groupʼs missile division Ibrahim Kubaisi was killed in the attack. And within a week, on September 27, the IDF struck the Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The next day, the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah confirmed that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in the attack.
- In the north, Israel borders Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group operates. Hezbollah and Israel have been attacking each other since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
- Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite Muslim military-political organization founded in 1982. "Hezbollah" is actively supported by Iran, it is recognized as a terrorist in more than 20 countries, in particular in the USA, EU and Great Britain. Hezbollah has been against Israel since its inception.
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