Hezbollah on Monday launched a drone strike on northern Israel injuring two Israeli troops. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah in a statement said it carried out the targeted attack on a military base in northern Israel after the assassination of its senior commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut last week.
The strike comes amid fears of a regional escalation in the Middle East after Shukur's assassination and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh's death.
Against the backdrop of the Gaza war, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes. Though so far the attacks prevailed in the border areas, with the recent assassinations it turned into a wider conflict.
Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned Israel saying that it was digging its own grave with its actions against Hamas.
"They will see the result of their mistake. They will see when, how and where they will get their response," Salami said in a speech.
Meanwhile, Israel has returned around 80 bodies to the Gaza Strip. The identities of the deceased and the cause of death were not immediately known.
Also, Iran seems not to be backing off from its decision to launch a major retaliatory attack against Israel as it accused Tel Aviv of killing Haniyeh.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said that Iran has the intrinsic right to provide for its own security and punish the aggressor, and will definitely take serious deterrent action with power and decisiveness. He said it would be acting in accordance with international law and the right of self-defence.
He also added that Iran is not looking to escalate the regional tensions.
Iran said a short-range projectile was behind the killing of Haniyeh, who was in Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran’s emergency meet with OIC leaders
Amid escalating tensions, Iran has secured an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday where it will try to press Arab states to impose sanctions against Israel.
Though many Gulf leaders condemned Israel’s actions, they urged Iran to show restraint.
The meeting will be held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The earlier efforts by deceased Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to gain the support of the Gulf states for military action or imposing sanctions on Israel failed.
It is possible that Iran's retaliatory strike on Israel will be after the outcome of the OIC meeting. Meanwhile, the US sources had indicated that it is expecting Iran to launch a series of coordinated strikes from Monday.
Russia's security council secretary, Sergei Shoigu had arrived in Tehran for talks with the Iranian leadership, including the president Masoud Pezeshkian.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, said action from Tehran was inevitable. “Iran seeks to establish stability in the region, but this will only come with punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against the adventurism of the Zionist regime (Israel),” said Kanaani. He also called on the US to stop supporting Israel.