Iran threatens Israel and the United States, drone strikes from Iraq towards Israeli territory

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei vowed Saturday to respond “scathingly” to any attack by Israel and the United States, a day after pro-Iranian groups in Iraq fired drones into Israeli territory that were intercepted.

At the same time, the Israeli army continues its wars against the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, two Islamist movements allied with Iran, engaged in recent months in a cycle of attacks and retaliation with Israel, which raises fears of a conflagration in the Middle East.

A few days before the presidential election on November 5 in the United States and despite international pressure, attempts to end hostilities have remained in vain.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a devastating offensive in Gaza, on its southern border, after a bloody attack by the movement against its territory on October 7, 2023. It also wants to neutralize Hezbollah on its northern border, after the Lebanese movement opened a front against it in support of Hamas.

A Palestinian prepares meals to be distributed to displaced Palestinians in front of a razed building in Gaza City, northern Palestinian territory, on November 2, 2024 © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA

In this explosive context, the United States announced on Friday new deployments in the Middle East, including means of defense against ballistic missiles, fighter jets and B-52 bombers, which will arrive “in the coming months” for the “defense of Israel” and as a warning to Iran.

“The enemies, both the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel, editor's note), must know that they will certainly receive a scathing response to their actions against Iran and the resistance front,” Ali Khamenei warned in Tehran.

– Drones launched from Iraq against Israel –

In addition to Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran supports the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Iraq, which are part of what Tehran calls the “axis of resistance” against Israel, which has occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.

Supporters of Yemen's Houthi rebels demonstrate against Israel in Sanaa on November 1, 2024 © AFP – Mohammed HUWAIS

On Saturday, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a coalition of pro-Iranian armed groups, claimed responsibility for drone attacks on Eilat, a city in southern Israel on the Red Sea.

The Israeli army said it had intercepted three drones over the Red Sea approaching from the east.

On October 26, Israel targeted military sites in Iran in retaliation for Iranian missile strikes against Israeli territory on October 1.

“The response to the enemy's aggression (of October 26) will be given in a firm, thoughtful and powerful manner, and will surpass the enemy's understanding,” threatened the spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, Ali Mohammad Naini.

– “Apocalyptic” –

Palestinians in a street devastated Gaza City on November 2, 2024 © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA

On Israel's southern border, the Israeli army has bombed the north of the Gaza Strip, including Jabalia and Beit Lahia, and the center, including Nousseirat where three Palestinians died according to the civil defense.

The army, which has been concentrating its offensive since October 6 in the north of the territory to neutralize Hamas, claimed to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists in Jabalia.” It also reported operations in the south and center of the besieged and devastated territory.

All residents of northern Gaza are at “imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence,” the heads of the major UN humanitarian agencies warned Friday. “The situation is apocalyptic.”

Israel is continuously bombing this poor and cramped territory where the vast majority of the approximately 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced and live in conditions described as “disastrous” by the UN.

Its air and ground offensive has killed 43,314 people, mostly civilians, according to data from Hamas's Health Ministry, and caused colossal destruction and a humanitarian disaster.

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or who died in captivity. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the army.

– Hezbollah rockets on Israel –

An Israeli policeman stands in front of a building damaged by a rocket fire from southern Lebanon, in the city of Tira in central Israel, on November 2, 2024 © AFP – JACK GUEZ

On Israel's northern front, Hezbollah claimed rocket salvos on a military base near Tel Aviv, a base for “military industries” north of Haifa and other targets in northern Israel.

At least 19 people were injured in Tira (center) by the fall of a projectile on a building which was gutted, indicated the Israeli authorities, reporting the interception of several rockets.

The day after destructive and deadly Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Israeli army again bombarded southern Lebanon on Saturday, where its forces have been engaged in a ground offensive since September 30.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon on November 2, 2024 © AFP – –

After a year of cross-border firefights, Israel stepped up its strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon from September 23, saying it wanted to neutralize the movement in the border regions and prevent rocket fire to allow the return of 60,000 displaced in the north of the country.

At least 1,900 people have been killed since September 23 in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data.

All reproduction and representation rights reserved. © (2024) Agence France-Presse