Israel and Iran exchange threats over escalation in Lebanon

Saudi Arabia renews call on citizens to leave Lebanon as fears of wider war mount

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Israel and Iran exchanged threats at the weekend, each warning any escalation in the fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah would be met with a strong response.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that Tehran’s threats made it worthy of destruction.

“A regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed,” Mr Katz said in a post on X. He added that Israel would act with full force against Hezbollah if it does not stop firing rockets at Israel and retreat from the border areas.

Iran’s UN mission said on Friday that if Israel launches a “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon, an “obliterating war will ensue.” The mission accused Israel of engaging in “psychological warfare” by issuing warnings of attacks on Lebanon.

Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel shortly after Israel launched a war in Gaza on October 7 in response to a Hamas-led attack.

In the months since, Israel and Hezbollah have conducted countless cross-border exchanges of fire, but the intensity of the attacks has increased in recent weeks, as well as the rhetoric between the sides.

Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in Houla, south Lebanon, on Sunday.

The Israeli army said it attacked “terrorist cells” in “a Hezbollah military building”.

On Saturday overnight, the Israeli military said its warplanes broke the sound barrier over several areas in Lebanon, including Beirut, which caused sonic booms which sounded like explosions. Hezbollah launched several drones into Israel and was hit with retaliatory air strikes.

“Israel must stop its repeated attacks on Lebanon, and stop the war in Gaza,” Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged on Saturday. “We are always advocates of peace, and our choice is peace.”

As fears of a wider war mount, Saudi Arabia on Saturday called on its citizens in Lebanon to immediately leave the country and reiterated its previous travel ban.

Jordan and Kuwait issued a similar call last week and more Gulf countries are expected to follow suit. The US, Canada, and other European countries have also cautioned their citizens against travelling to Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the phase of intense fighting in Gaza would end “very soon” to allow for some Israeli forces to be redeployed to the north, along the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah has attacked Israeli towns and military sites, while Israel has struck deep into Lebanese territory, fuelling fears of a regional war that a wider regional war is imminent.

US envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel and Lebanon earlier this month in an effort to prevent escalation but cross-border exchanges continued.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was also in Washington last week where he held meetings with top US officials to discuss the risk of direct confrontation with Hezbollah. Rather than defusing tension, concerns grew after he said on Wednesday that Israel could “take Lebanon back to the Stone Age.”

“We don’t want to do it,” he added.