International Editorial.- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that it had launched a joint attack with the Shiite group Hezbollah against targets in Israel, the first coordinated offensive between the two after twelve days of conflict in the Middle East.
In a statement reported by the Iranian Tasnim agency, linked to this elite body of Tehran, the Revolutionary Guard assured that this joint operation hit 50 targets in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Beersheba, in southern Israel.
This is the first time Iran has directly confirmed a coordinated attack with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group supported by Tehran, although both have consistently attacked Israel since the war began.
Joint Attack by Hezbollah and Iran on Israel
Hezbollah entered the conflict two days after the United States and Israel jointly bombed Iran with limited-range attacks against northern Israel in retaliation for the offensive in Iran and the death of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Revolutionary Guard described the operation as “a joint operation comprised of the Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese resistance with continuous fire for more than five hours” with missile attacks by Tehran and an “extensive offensive” with drones and missiles by the Shiite group.
“This powerful and unified front has inflicted painful blows” against Israel, the statement adds.
Iran also claimed to have attacked the US base Al Azraq in Jordan and Al Kharj in Saudi Arabia.
Hizbullah’s attacks against Israel have sparked a harsh reprisal from the Israeli Army, which is maintaining an intense bombing campaign against southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as the capital’s outskirts, which in the last ten days has caused 634 deaths, 1,586 injuries, and more than 800,000 displaced.
Israel launches a «wide wave of attacks» against targets in Tehran
The Israeli Army announced this Thursday that it has begun “a wide wave of attacks” against targets in Tehran, amid the escalation of the regional conflict after several days of direct clashes between Israel and Iran.
In a brief message, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that they have initiated “a broad wave of attacks in Tehran,” without offering further details about the objectives or the scope of the operation at the moment.
Hours earlier, the Israeli Army had indicated that it detected the launch of missiles from Iran towards Israeli territory and that its defense systems were operating to intercept the threat.
According to the IDF, the Home Front Command also sent preventive alerts to mobile phones in potentially affected areas to urge the population to follow safety instructions.
The Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) indicated that, for the moment, no direct victims have been registered due to the missile launch. However, medical and paramedic teams were deployed to several locations after receiving alerts, and attended to people who were slightly injured while heading to shelters and others affected by anxiety crises.
More than twenty dead and fifty injured in new Israeli attacks against Lebanon
At least 24 people died and more than fifty were injured this Thursday in Lebanon in new bombings by Israel, which responded on a large scale to the recent attacks by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.
An Israeli attack on the town of Tamnin al Tahta, in Baalbek, resulted in a final toll of eight dead and 17 injured, according to the Health Ministry’s Emergency Operations Center of Lebanon.
Also in Baalbek, a stronghold of Hezbollah, eight other people died and three were injured in Israeli bombings in the town of Shaath.
In the south, in the Tyre area, two bodies were recovered from a four-story building that was the target of an airstrike, and search and rescue operations for the missing persons continue.
Other bombings in southern areas resulted in four deaths and nine injuries in the town of Burg al Shomali, and two deaths and six injuries in Deir Antar.
Regarding the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health reported that Israeli incursions caused 17 injuries.
A drone attack causes a major fire in the port of Salalah in Oman
While a drone attack caused a fire in fuel tanks at the port of Salalah, in Oman, this Thursday, in an incident that Iran claimed to be investigating because that Persian Gulf country is “friend and brother”.
Oman’s Civil Defense Authority reported that its teams are working to extinguish the fire with the support of the Armed Forces and companies operating in the area, but warned that it may “take some time.”
The fire broke out after Omani television reported that drones attacked fuel tanks at the port of Salalah.
The spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned this Wednesday that the ports and economic centers of the Persian Gulf “will be attacked as legitimate targets” if the United States fulfills its threat against Iranian ports.
However, Iranian attacks have so far been directed mainly against Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, but not so much against Oman, a country with which Tehran maintains good relations.
