As Israel braces for attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the cabinet meeting on Sunday said that the US and the allies are prepared to defend Tel Aviv from an expected counterstrike and further prevent the regional conflict.
The recent deaths of the senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas' political chief in Iran have paved the way for regional instability in the Middle East. Iran and Hezbollah have vowed a “strong” response against Israel.
Netanyahu said Israel was ready for any scenario. White House national security adviser Jon Finer said "We are doing everything possible to make sure that this situation does not boil over."
Meanwhile, Jordan's top diplomat visited Iran on Sunday nearly after two decades amid escalating regional tensions. Foreign minister Ayman Safadi made the rare visit in an effort to persuade Iran to back off from retaliatory strike against Israel.
However, the visit is not likely to make an impact as Iran on Sunday reiterated that there is no room for compromise and it would make a decisive response to the assassination. Jordan is a close Western ally and in April it shot down Iranian missiles flying above its airspace when the country attacked Israel. Jordan had said it would not allow its country to become a battlefield for other conflicts.
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Also, Iran is insisting on calling for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), at which Tehran would put pressure on Arab Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the UAE to adopt sanctions against Israel.
It is also to be noted that Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for killing Haniyeh.
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The official explanation of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s official is that Haniyeh was killed by a “short-range projectile” launched from outside his accommodation in northern Tehran. The explanation is quite different from the reports that a bomb was placed in the guesthouse, where Haniyeh was staying, in Tehran two months ago.
The Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari had earlier told journalists “There was no other Israeli aerial attack ... in all the Middle East” on the night the Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr was killed in Lebanon.
It is reported that Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen could attack Israel as early as Monday. The US also believes that the Iranian retaliation will be similar to the April attack but with Lebanon joining it could be on a large scale. It remains to be seen whether Iran could be persuaded to back off from the attack.
