AFP :
Iran’s supreme leader vowed in a rare address on Friday that his allies around the region would keep fighting Israel, as he defended his country’s missile strike on its arch-foe.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s address in Tehran was the first since Iran launched its second ever attack on Israel, and also the first since exchanges of fire pitting Hezbollah fighters against Israeli troops escalated into full-blown war in Lebanon.
Israel says its objective is to allow 60,000 Israelis displaced by a year of cross-border rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah to return to their homes.
Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people since September 23, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes in a country already mired in economic crisis.
They have also killed a host of Hezbollah commanders, an Iranian general and, in their biggest blow to the group in decades, assassinated its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Speaking to a crowd of thousands in Farsi-speaking Iran, he said in Arabic: “The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win.” The address comes as Israel weighs retaliation for Hezbollah backer Iran’s missile attack which Tehran said was revenge for the killing of Nasrallah and other top figures.
Khamenei praised Hezbollah, saying that it was providing “a vital service to the entire region and the entire Islamic world.” The escalation has left people in Lebanon fearful that there will be no swift end to the violence engulfing their country. In Beirut, 35-year-old displaced nurse Fatima Salah said people were “scared for our children, and this war is going to be long.” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that “those who attack the state of Israel, pay a heavy price.” Iran said it would step up its response if Israel counterattacked.
Israel intercepted most of the 200 missiles launched by Iran, though the attack has sparked fear in Israel of more violence to come. In the West Bank, a Palestinian was killed by shrapnel.
With fears of further violence drawing in more countries in the region, US President Biden said that “we can avoid” all-out war in the Middle East, but that “there is a lot to do yet, a lot to do yet.” He also that the United States was “discussing” possible Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities.