Biden tells Israel to spare Iranian nuclear sites as IDF pounds Beirut

U.S. President Joe Biden has implored Israel to forego strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in retribution for Tehran’s missile attack on the Jewish state earlier this week amid fears of all-out war in the Middle East. Speaking after a conference call between G7 leaders yesterday evening, Biden said the U.S. supported Israel’s right to defend itself from Iranian aggression but declared ‘the answer is no’ when it came to the prospect of targeting Iran’s nuclear program.

He said all G7 countries – the United States, Canada , Britain, Italy , France , Germany and Japan – agreed that Israel ‘has a right to respond… but they should respond proportionally’, adding the U.S. would impose more sanctions to further target Iran’s ailing economy. But Israel and Iran appear to be headed for a bigger collision after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to make Tehran pay for Tuesday’s attack in which some 180 ballistic missiles rained down over Israel.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett openly called on Israel’s military to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, while IDF chief Herzi Halevi declared: ‘We will respond. We can locate important targets and we can hit them precisely and powerfully. We have the capability to reach and strike every location in the Middle East and those of our enemies who have not yet understood this, will understand this soon.’

Iran said after the attack that it considers the matter ‘concluded’ and urged the United Nations Security Council to intervene to prevent further warfare in the Middle East. But Tehran later promised that any large-scale retaliation from Israel would be met with severe consequences. As Israel plots its retaliation on Iran, the IDF continued its operations in Lebanon and Gaza , launching a crushing bombing raid on the heart of Beirut overnight that left at least six dead and buildings close to Lebanon’s Parliament ablaze.

The strike on the central district of Bachoura came as Israel’s air force pounded the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, home to Hezbollah’s headquarters where leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week. That area was battered by more than a dozen airstrikes and three missiles, witnesses claimed. The punishing bombardment was conducted just hours after the IDF confirmed eight of its soldiers were slain by Hezbollah militants amid a brutal ambush close to the border in southern Lebanon yesterday.

Wednesday became the deadliest day for Israel on the Lebanese front since the IDF and Hezbollah began trading strikes and cross-border skirmishes almost immediately following Hamas’ October 7 attacks. News of the losses came as Hezbollah declared it was ‘only the first round’ of its fight against Israel, as Israel’s ground forces face an urban combat environment that provides ample opportunity for militants to employ devastating guerrilla tactics.

Israeli officials confirmed the first IDF soldier to die amid the operation in Lebanon was Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster (pictured), 22, a member of the Egoz commando unit. But seven more soldiers were reported dead during a briefing by an IDF spokesperson later yesterday afternoon.

Captains Harel Etinger and Itai Ariel Giat, both 23, lost their lives alongside sergeants Noam Barzilay, Or Mantzur, Nazar Itkin, Almken Terefe and Ido Broyer, who were aged between 21 and 22. The troops were killed when Hezbollah militants sprang a surprise assault on their units near the village of Adaisseh. Hezbollah also claimed to have destroyed three Israeli tanks using anti-armour missiles, though this has not yet been confirmed. Pictured: Family and friends of Captain Eitan Oster react during his funeral service at Mount Hertzl military cemetery on October 02, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The deaths have not deterred Israel from pressing on with its bombing campaigns of its foes, all of whom it says are part of Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’. Besides the bombing of Beirut and Lebanon’s southern suburbs overnight, the IDF continued battering Gaza, where the nearly year-long war that triggered the widening conflict rages with no end in sight. Israeli ground and air operations in the territory’s second-largest city of Khan Younis yesterday killed at least 51 people, including women and children, Palestinian medical officials said.

Meanwhile, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Damascus on Wednesday evening, killing three people and wounding at least three others. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the missile appeared to have targeted the bottom floor of a four-storey apartment building. With Iran’s massive attack on Israel Tuesday, analysts fear the region is edging closer to an all-out war that is already drawing in allies on both sides.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) reported the attack, which they said included hypersonic missiles, was in response to the killing of Hezbollah’s Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian commander Abbas Nilforoushan of the Quds Force. But Israeli officials vowed to exact retribution. ‘Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. ‘Whoever attacks us, we attack them.’

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who was at the command and control centre monitoring the interception of Iranian missiles, also promised vengeance, adding: ‘Iran has not learned a simple lesson – those who attack the state of Israel, pay a heavy price.’ Reports suggest Israel could go after the Islamic Republic’s oil facilities in retaliation for the missile bombardment.

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