Blinken issues ‘urgent warning on imminent revenge attack on Israel’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterparts from G7 countries that Iran and Hezbollah could start attacking Israel as early as Monday. Israel has been braced for an Iranian assault on five fronts ‘at any moment’ in revenge following the assassination Wednesday of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tehran a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Tehran is shaken after it emerged the terror chief was killed by a bomb smuggled into the regime’s official guest house in the capital months ago. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei has instructed the Islamic republic’s Supreme National Security Council to launch a direct attack on Israel. Joe Biden will convene his national security team in the situation room on Monday to discuss developments in the Middle East, the White House said, adding that he would speak with Jordan’s King Abdullah as well.

Sources familiar with the call said it was unclear how Iran and Hezbollah would attack and did not know the exact timing. When asked about the report, the State Department referred to a readout of the call, where it said the ministers discussed ‘the urgent need for de-escalation in the Middle East.’ The Pentagon said on Friday it would deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the region. ‘The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks, and avoid regional conflict,’ Jonathan Finer, the White House’s deputy national security adviser, said on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’.

The U.S. and Israel are preparing for every possibility, Finer added. It is feared the response could eclipse Iran’s blistering attack in April where hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles came terrifyingly close to overwhelming Israel’s defences . That assault saw RAF fighter jets in Cyprus defending Israeli skies, but defence sources said last night that British bases are not on a ‘higher readiness’ and no extra planes have been deployed. The U.S. wants to be prepared should that situation rise again, Finer added. Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s killing in the Iranian capital, and they, together with Hezbollah, have vowed revenge. Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility.

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh (Pictured) was killed in his sleep at 2am on Wednesday after visiting Tehran for the presidential inauguration. He was staying in a regime guest house and was protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in part of the Neshat compound in the north of the city. A bomb had been smuggled inside two months earlier, top Middle East officials told the New York Times. It was detonated remotely once it was confirmed he was inside his room. The huge blast also killed his bodyguard. While Israel has not claimed responsibility it is the fourth high-profile Hamas leader assassinated since October 7 and it is said to be ticking off a ‘kill list’. Just 12 hours before Haniyeh’s death, Israel killed Fuad Shukr, the military leader of Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy in Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah secretary general, last night vowed revenge, saying Israel ‘had crossed a red line’. He said: ‘There is no discussion on this point. The only things lying between us and you are the days, the nights and the battlefield.’ Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for any ‘aggression’. It came as huge crowds waving Palestinian flags filled the streets of Tehran yesterday for the funeral of Haniyeh. Meanwhile, 70,000 Israelis dashed to Tel Aviv airport to try to get out as tensions build in the country. Israel’s National Security Council is warning travellers to exercise extra caution abroad over fears Jewish institutions may be targeted by Iran-allied militants.

Joe Biden said Friday that the assassination of Haniyeh ‘doesn’t help’ ceasefire talks’ between Israel and Hamas. Biden said he was ‘very concerned’ about the rising tensions in the Middle East, adding: ‘We have the basis for a ceasefire. He [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ] should move on it and they [Hamas] should move on it now’. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7 when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. 

While Biden has hoped to achieve a ceasefire, violence in the region has escalated again in recent weeks. At the end of July, Israel vowed to ‘hit the enemy hard’ after rocket fire from Lebanon killed 12 children in the Golan Heights region , sparking fears that war could spread across the Middle East as the United States issued desperate calls for calm.

A dozen people aged between 10 and 16 were killed and at least 37 were injured in explosions on a football pitch, prompting outrage in Israel as officials blamed Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement for firing a Falaq-1 Iranian rocket. The incident, described by Tel-Aviv as a ‘massacre’ and ‘the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians’ since October 7, saw Israel respond with a wave of drone attacks on Lebanon last night ahead of what many fear will be a larger, more deadly retaliation.

Iran-backed Hezbollah – which has regularly targeted Israeli military positions – denied any responsibility, but the US on Sunday also determined the deaths were caused by a rocket fired from Lebanon. In its 10-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed some 39,480 Palestinians and wounded more than 91,100 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. More than 80% of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, the vast majority crammed into tent camps in the south-west corner of the territory, with limited food and water.

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