Netanyahu says Israel has hit Iran hard; Khamenei says the damage should not be exaggerated by Reuters

Written by Ari Rabinovitch and Adam Makary

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes have “severely hit” Iran's defenses and missile production, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, as Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country was considering its response.

With wars raging in Gaza and Lebanon, direct conflict between Israel and Iran poses a major threat to regional tensions. But a day after the airstrikes, there were no signs that they would spark another round of tensions.

However, heavy fighting in Lebanon between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has intensified in recent weeks, continued on Sunday when an Israeli airstrike killed eight people in a settlement in Sidon, medics said.

“The air force has attacked all over Iran. We have severely hit Iran's defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles aimed at us,” Netanyahu said in a speech, calling the attack “accurate and powerful” and saying it had met all of its objectives.

The Islamic Republic did not say how it would respond to Saturday's long-awaited strikes, which involved dozens of warplanes targeting the capital Tehran and the western provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan.

The UN Security Council is likely to meet to discuss the attack on Monday, diplomats said.

The two heavily armed rivals have engaged in a round of retaliation for months, and Saturday's strike comes on the heels of a barrage of Iranian missiles on October 1, many of which Israel said brought down its air defenses.

Khamenei said Israel's statistics “should be disturbed”. The Iranian attack, which killed four soldiers and caused damage, “should not be underestimated or exaggerated”, he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was not looking for war but would give a “proper response”.

US President Joe Biden has called for an end to the tension that has caused fears of a wider Middle East war that has erupted from the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Israel's push into southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah from moving north of Israel.

Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Iran can no longer use its allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel. The two groups are “no longer an effective tool” for Tehran, he said in his speech.

Gallant added that Hamas no longer operates as a military network in Gaza and that Hezbollah's top commander and most of its missile force have been removed.

Hamas has repeatedly said it is still capable of military action, and Israel has recently launched major new operations in devastated northern Gaza against what it calls the regrouping of Hamas terrorists.

Hezbollah said its command structure remains intact and it maintains significant missile capabilities.

LEBANON FIGHTING

On Sunday, the Israeli army urged residents of 14 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately and go north of the Awali river.

An Israeli strike in Sidon, a city on the south coast of Lebanon, killed at least eight people and injured 25 on Sunday, the country's Ministry of Health said.

Elsewhere in the south, a strike in Zawtar al-Sharkiya killed three people and Saturday's bombing in Marjayoun killed five, the statement said.

Israel said four of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah also said it fired dozens of missiles at the Zevulon military industrial complex in northern Haifa and northern Israel. Hezbollah rockets hit the house and vehicles and rescuers responded to put out the fire.

One woman was seriously injured, according to the Israeli ambulance service.