The Middle East is braced for an “imminent” Iranian revenge attack amid fears it could be more deadly than previously thought.
US intelligence has warned Tel Aviv that Tehran may be planning a “double-tap” onslaught with missile barrages from both Iran and Hezbollah. It means Hezbollah’s Tehran backers could try to overwhelm Israel ’s three tier air defence system to hit cities like Tel Aviv.
The attack would avenge a suspected Israeli blast last week in Tehran which killed visiting Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh, believed to have been a Mossad hit. For days Iran officials have warned the attack is coming, sparking escalating fears of all-out war breaking out in the Middle East.
It is also thought Israel’s war cabinet is considering a major pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah and possibly Iran if it detects preparations for a large-scale missile attack. US President Joe Biden was informed US intelligence believes there will be two waves of attacks - one by Hezbollah from Lebanon and one by Iran along with several terrorist organizations it supports.
US intelligence remains unclear about who will attack first, whether it will be simultaneous and what type of attack each intends to carry out. That means Hezbollah may still plan to carry out ground assaults across Israel’s border, spearheaded by its 2,500-strong crack “Radwan” unit.
A further 50,000 regular Hezbollah fighters are believed to be ready to fight, many of them battle-hardened from years of war in Syria. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters the Biden administration has told Iran the US will defend Israel if it is attacked. And he added: "We do not think such an attack is inevitable, but we are trying to prevent it."
US fighter jets are believed to be moving forward in the region to prepare to help Israel defend itself and protect US bases. The al-Asad US base in Iraq was rocketed by suspected Iran-backed militia on Monday night, injuring several soldiers and putting other garrisons on high-alert.
But the EU’s representative for foreign affairs and security policy sounds alarm bells over the possibility of an all-out war of “unknown proportions.” Josep Borrell Fontelles said tension has brought the region to “the brink of a war of unknown proportions”. He added: “All those standing in the way of de-escalation shall be held accountable. We all must prevent another catastrophe. The way forward is largely consensual: ceasefire in Gaza, now.”
The Palestinian death toll from the war in Gaza, which sparked the cross-border shootings between Hezbollah and Israel, is hurtling towards the bloody 40,000 milestone. Last night it reached 39,653 dead, according to local officials. On Monday Israeli fire during military raids in the occupied West Bank killed ten Palestinians, including four teenagers, and wounded another ten.
An Israeli airstrike on a village in southern Lebanon killed four people, the country's Health Ministry said. Lebanon's Hezbollah responded with a drone attack on northern Israel, wounding at least seven people, in response to the killing of one of its fighters.
Leaders in Egypt and Turkey said they are exhausting all possible avenues to prevent the war from becoming a wider conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted Israel is already in a "multi-front war" with Iran and its proxies.