Saying it was responding to the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Iran fired nearly 200 missiles toward Israel on Tuesday.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has spoken. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a rifle at his side, said Friday, Oct. 4, that Iran’s missile attack Tuesday on Israel was “completely legitimate,” in a speech to thousands in Tehran. Israel “doesn’t have much longer,” the supreme leader added, before issuing a warning that Iran’s allies, mainly Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, “will not back down” in the face of the Jewish state. And this, "despite the martyrs," he added, referring to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah killed on September 27 in an Israeli raid near Beirut, and that of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, killed on July 31 in an attack in Tehran attributed to Israel.
Saying it was responding to these two assassinations, Iran fired nearly 200 missiles toward Israel on Tuesday. This attack led to cross threats of retaliation between Israel and Iran, further raising fears of an escalation in this conflict that was rekindled in the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli territory on October 7.
Hezbollah renders "vital service to the entire region", according to Ali Khamenei
Since mid-September, Israel has shifted most of its operations to the northern front, in Lebanon, after having weakened Hamas in the Gaza Strip during a devastating offensive that is still ongoing. Israel "cannot seriously harm" Hezbollah and Hamas, the Iranian supreme leader also estimated, considering that Hezbollah's fight rendered a "vital service to the entire region".
Returning to the attacks of October 7, Ayatollah Khamenei, who does not recognize the existence of the State of Israel, described the attack by Hamas as "logical and legitimate".
Lebanese army says it has responded to Israeli fire for the first time in a year.
As violence continues between the Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters, the Lebanese army announced on Thursday, October 3, that it had responded to Israeli fire. This is the first time that the Lebanese military has declared having "responded to Israeli fire" in a year, and this, while the Hebrew state is leading an offensive against the Islamist movement Hezbollah, which carries the voice of Iran in a Lebanon in the grip of a serious political crisis.
This announcement follows a statement from the regular army reporting on Thursday the death of two of its soldiers in the south of the country: one killed in Israeli fire against "a military post in the Bint Jbeil region" and the other in a "rescue mission in the village of Taybe". Follow our live.
A ninth Israeli soldier killed in combat in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army announced that another of its soldiers, aged 21, had died during clashes in Lebanese territory against the Islamist movement Hezbollah. Captain Ben Zion Falach "fell yesterday [Wednesday] during fighting," the army said in a statement.
Israeli strikes on Beirut. Three new Israeli strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Lebanese National News Agency reported. A source close to the pro-Iran Islamist group told AFP that a building targeted housed the office of Hezbollah's information department, which "had been evacuated." During the night, 17 air raids were launched by Israel on the Shiite sectors of Haret Hreik, Burj al-Barajneh and Hadath Gharb, in the south of the capital, according to the NNA agency. An Israeli strike also hit a Hezbollah "civil defense center" in the Bachoura neighborhood of Beirut, killing six and wounding seven. The Israeli military said 15 Hezbollah fighters died in one of its strikes.
Hezbollah rockets fired toward northern Israel. The Shiite Islamist group said it fired "a salvo of rockets at Tiberias" in response to Israeli bombardments "on Lebanese cities, villages and civilians." The militia also said it detonated two explosive devices to counter a new Israeli infiltration attempt in the south of the country as "an infantry force of the Israeli enemy tried to infiltrate toward the town of Maroun al-Ras."
Israel calls on civilians to evacuate. The Israeli military has issued a new call to evacuate residents of 25 towns in southern Lebanon, including the city of Nabatiyeh, where it launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah on Monday. The army has "no intention of harming you and for your own safety you must evacuate your homes immediately and head north," Israeli military spokesman Avichai Adraee wrote in an Arabic message on his X account.
Two Belgian journalists injured in Lebanon. Two journalists from Belgian television station VTM were injured overnight in Beirut while covering an airstrike on the Lebanese capital's city center. Reporter Robin Ramaekers, who suffered "fractures to the face," and cameraman Stijn De Smet, who was injured in a leg, were both hospitalized.
