US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that US support for Israel was “ironclad”, amid fears the Middle Eastern country could soon be attacked by Iran.
“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad. Let me say that again: foolproof. We will do everything we can to protect Israel’s security,” Biden said at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Biden’s top diplomat, Anthony Blinken, confirmed his remarks and said in a phone call to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that the United States would support Israel if Iran decided to attack.
An attack by Iran or its proxies on military and government targets in Israel is imminent, Bloomberg News reported citing intelligence sources, with one source saying the question was more about when, not if.
Tensions in the Middle East flared today after an Iranian news agency published a report on X claiming that all airspace above Tehran had been closed for military exercises, before quickly removing the message and to deny having ever published the news.
But Iran has vowed to retaliate for an Israeli strike in Syria on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders when Israeli forces struck the Iranian embassy building in Damascus.
US President Joe Biden (pictured) said on Wednesday that US support for Israel was ‘ironclad’
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured) vowed revenge on Israel for attack on Iranian embassy in Damascus
Rescuers search through rubble of building annexed to Iranian embassy after airstrike in Damascus
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei examines the coffins of members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps killed in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus.
The airstrike killed Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who led the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. He also killed Zahedi’s deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, and five other officers.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel “must and will be punished” for the embassy strikes. He noted in a speech on Wednesday to mark Eid al-Fitr that attacking an embassy “means they attacked our soil.”
“The evil regime made a mistake and it must be punished and will be punished,” he added, according to IRNA, the official news agency.
Iran’s main proxy group is Hezbollah, based in southern Lebanon and which has exchanged fire with Israeli forces almost daily since the Gaza war began in October.
Israel has not explicitly acknowledged being behind the attack, but has put its army on alert.
And Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X: “If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will react and attack in Iran. »
There are fears that an open war between Israel and Iran could escalate into a much wider conflict, after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said, apparently in response to the Ayatollah’s promised retaliation , that Israel would react if Iran attacked it from its own soil.
Emergency and security personnel search through rubble at the site of strikes that hit a building annexed to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the Syrian capital, April 1, 2024.
Rescue workers search the rubble of a building annexed to the Iranian embassy the day after an airstrike in Damascus, April 2, 2024.
The rubble of a building annexed to the Iranian embassy is photographed a day after an airstrike in Damascus on April 2, 2024.
Late last week, Iran warned Israel that none of its embassies were safe following the IDF attack.
Major General Rahim Safavi, who served as commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said: “None of the (Israeli) regime’s embassies are safe anymore. »
Israel has already battled its enemies to the north, announcing on Sunday that it had launched airstrikes on eastern Lebanon and struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites after the Iran-backed group downed an Israeli drone, while both parties continue to exchange fire amid escalating regional tensions.
The Israeli military said in a statement that warplanes struck a military compound and three other sites belonging to Hezbollah in the eastern town of Baalbek.
It said the attack was a response to Hezbollah’s downing of an unmanned aerial vehicle in Lebanese airspace, which the group identified as the Israeli-made Hermes 900 drone.
Hezbollah said it then fired dozens of Katyusha rockets that hit an air defense base in the occupied Golan Heights, in retaliation for Israeli raids on eastern Lebanon.
Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes on targets in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam on April 8, 2024.
Minibus rendered unusable after Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon
Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel across Lebanon’s southern border since October 8, a day after Hamas launched a devastating attack on Israel that sparked the Israeli war in Gaza and led to an escalation in regional tensions.
Israeli bombings killed around 270 Hezbollah fighters and around fifty civilians, according to security sources.
In southern Lebanon, some 90,000 people were also displaced, while more than 96,000 Israelis were displaced from the country’s northern border area, according to officials on both sides.
The United States and other countries have sought a diplomatic solution to the exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.
Hezbollah said it would not stop the shooting until a ceasefire was implemented in Gaza.
Late last week, Israel withdrew most of its military brigades from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Late last week, Israel withdrew most of its military brigades from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Palestinians weather destruction from Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis
Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold and war will not be complete until Hamas is destroyed
The Hamas stronghold has been the main target of the Israeli offensive in recent months.
This brought Israeli troop levels in Gaza to one of the lowest levels since the start of the war, raising questions about plans for the future course of the war, particularly the fate of the town of Rafah, the further south of Gaza.
Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last bastion and that the war will not be complete until Hamas is destroyed. But the area is now home to some 1.4 million people, more than half of Gaza’s population.
Just a day after the troop withdrawal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date had been set for IDF soldiers to invade Rafah, although he did not reveal when that would happen.
He said on Monday: “Today I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. We are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and complete victory over Hamas.
“This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of terrorist battalions. It will happen – there is a date.
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