Israel on high alert over retaliation threat by Iran
Published on: Saturday, April 13, 2024
By: AFP
Palestinians watch at smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment on the Firas market area in Gaza City.
GAZA STRIP: Israel was on alert after its arch-foe Iran threatened reprisals over a strike in Syria this month that killed two Iranian generals, and as the war against Hamas ground on in Gaza.
Days after Israel strengthened its air defences and paused leave for combat units, the United States also warned of the risk of an attack by Iran or its allied groups at a time when Middle East tensions have soared.
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Iran is “threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel”, US President Joe Biden said Wednesday, pledging “ironclad” support for its top regional ally despite diplomatic tensions over Israel’s military conduct in Gaza.
Israel was widely blamed for an April 1 attack that destroyed Iran’s consulate building in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Wednesday that Israel “must be punished and will be punished”, days after one of his advisers said Israeli embassies are “no longer safe”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz swiftly replied on social media site X that “if Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran”.
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Biden said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad”.
US Central Command chief Michael Kurilla was in Israel on Thursday to discuss the situation with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon said.
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“We warned Iran,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing without elaborating.
The US embassy in Israel also announced it was restricting the movements of its diplomats over security fears, saying that “out of an abundance of caution” staffers and their family could not undertake personal travel outside the Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheeva areas “until further notice”.
During a visit to an airbase in central Israel, Netanyahu spoke of “challenging times” on multiple fronts.
“We are in the middle of the war in Gaza which continues in full force... but we are also preparing for scenarios of challenges from other arenas,” he said in comments released by his office.
Moscow called on both Iran and Israel to exercise restraint.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged “maximum restraint”, and Lufthansa said it had extended a temporary suspension of Iran flights until Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he had received phone calls Thursday from Baerbock as well as her British and Australian counterparts.
In a post on X, he said he had told them that “when the Zionist regime breaches the immunity of diplomatic persons and places” and the UN Security Council fails to condemn it, “legitimate defence... is a necessity”.
Israel and the United States have long faced off against Iran and its so-called “Axis of Resistance” allies based in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that at least 33,634 people have been killed in the territory.
The toll includes at least 89 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 76,214 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip.
Peace talks have brought no breakthrough.
Biden said that “it’s now up to Hamas, they need to move on the proposal that’s been made”.
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