Israel-Iran latest: Iran vows to carry on fighting after Beirut blasts

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Tehran and its regional proxies will not back down from Israel.

It came just hours after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the successor apparent to Iran-backed Hezbollah’s slain secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.

“The brilliant action of our armed forces a couple of nights ago was completely legal and legitimate”, Khamenei said.

Iran’s “axis of resistance” comprises a group of violent proxies across Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Palestine, coordinated by Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign arm of the IRGC.

The Quds Force’s aim is to export Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution abroad. The US assassinated the former head of the Quds Force, Qassem Solemaini, in January 2020.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Hamas’s 7 October attack which killed 1,200 Israelis was legitimate.

Khamenei said the barbaric attack was the “minimum punishment” for Israel against their “astonishing crimes” on Friday.

He also called Israel a “vampire” regime, and its chief ally, the United States, a “rabid dog”.

Israeli strikes sealed off Lebanon’s main border crossing with Syria early on Friday, hours after an intense Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Hezbollah’s slain secretary general.

The strikes added to fears inside Lebanon that Israel’s targeting of Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants will bring an all-out conflict, with Israel also poised to respond to Tuesday’s Iranian missile barrage on its territory.

Since Israel activated the Iron Dome in 2011, the cutting-edge rocket-defense system has intercepted thousands of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, including on Tuesday night when Iran launched a large scale missile attack.

The system has given residents a sense of security, and Israelis can often be seen watching the projectiles flying through the skies and destroying their targets overhead.

But the current war with Hamas, which has led to direct confrontations with Iran, might be its stiffest challenge yet.

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei will deliver a public sermon during today’s prayers, which could shed light on the country’s plans after firing 200 missiles at Israel.

Today’s sermon would be the Ayatollah’s first in almost five years and comes three days before the one-year anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Khamenei will lead the prayer at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran, which will follow “a commemoration ceremony” at 10.30am (local time) for slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israel Defence Force today said it intercepted some of the 20 rockets fired by Lebanon toward the Haifa area.

While most projectiles were intercepted, others struck open ground, the military said.

Fears are rising of an all-out war across the Middle East in the wake of lran launching almost 200 ballistic missiles in an attack on Israel, marking a major escalation in the conflict between the two bitter enemies.

Figures published by the think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) show that Israel has 169,500 active personnel, with a reserve army of 465,000. Those currently in service include 126,000 in the army, 9,500 in the navy and 34,000 in the air force.

Meanwhile, Iran has 610,000 active personnel, which includes 350,000 in their army, 190,000 in the IRGC, and 15,000 in air defence and 18,000 in the navy.

They also have an additional reserve of 350,000 with conscription mandatory for Iranian men over 18, while Israel conscripts most young men and women over 18 with a few exemptions.