Iran threatens Israel: “Response will be final and painful”

According to media reports, after the Israeli attack on Iran, the government in Tehran is already planning another counterattack. An attack using drones and ballistic missiles could be launched from Iraq, US news site Axios reported, citing Israeli sources. Accordingly, the Israeli secret services assume that the attack could possibly take place before the US election next Tuesday.

Iran will certainly respond to the Israeli attack, Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadawi said in an interview, according to a report by Mehr News Agency. “For more than 40 years we have left no aggression unanswered.” The US television channel CNN quoted a person familiar with the deliberations in Tehran as saying: “The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the aggression of the Zionist regime will be final and painful.”

The chief of staff to Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Iranian response would “make our enemies regret the attack,” according to Axios. Israel attacked several military installations and the air defense system in Iran last week. According to Iranian information, only minor damage was caused. With the air strikes, Israel responded to an attack by Iran with around 200 rockets at the beginning of October.

The Israeli military warned Iran of harsh consequences in the event of another attack. If Tehran “makes the mistake and fires missiles at Israel again, then we know exactly how to hit Iran,” Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi told soldiers at an air base in the south of Israel, according to a report in The Times of Israel newspaper Israel. This could also target targets that were spared in last week’s retaliatory strike. “We’re not done yet, we’re in the middle of it,” Halevi said.

For the first time in almost a week, the Israeli armed forces attacked the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut again. At least eleven air strikes hit the Dahieh district, Lebanese security sources said. According to reports, columns of black smoke could be seen over the area. The explosions could be heard in large parts of the capital.

In the nearby Lebanonberg district, an apartment was reportedly hit by an Israeli drone. At least two people were killed, including a member of the Hezbollah militia.

A few hours earlier, the Israeli military had announced attacks on facilities belonging to the Shiite militia Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The armed forces published two maps showing the targets and called on residents to keep at least 500 meters away from the buildings.

Despite the fierce fighting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sees “good progress” in negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. “There is still more to be done,” said Blinken in Washington. The progress would come from his recent trip to the region and the ongoing talks.

They are working “very hard” to “make progress in understanding what would be needed for the effective implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” Blinken added. UN Resolution 1701 requires Hezbollah to withdraw behind the Litani River – about 30 kilometers from the border with Israel.

According to a media report, thousands of buildings in Lebanese border towns have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks. At least 5,858 buildings in the border area were affected, the Washington Post reported, citing its own analyzes of satellite images and video material. Almost a quarter of all buildings in 25 locations along the border with Israel are affected. The majority of the damage – around 80 percent – has occurred since the Israeli ground offensive in southern Lebanon began at the beginning of October. Since then, the extent of the destruction has doubled about every two weeks.