U.S. officials told ABC News that “small-scale” Israeli military ground operations on Lebanese soil “may have begun, or may be about to begin, on the border with Lebanon” to eliminate Hezbollah positions.
Israel does not appear to have decided yet whether to launch a ground operation, but is prepared to do so, officials said, adding that if a ground operation does take place, its scope will likely be limited.
The situation in the Middle East is becoming increasingly heated after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed responsibility for the operation: " Nasrallah was the terrorist, the central engine of Iran's axis of evil . He and his men were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel. He was not only activated by Iran, many times he activated Iran. Eliminating him was an essential condition for achieving the objectives."
Tehran is meanwhile considering sending its troops to Lebanon . Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned of the "dangerous consequences" of Israeli attacks in Lebanon. "The UN has failed to take effective measures against Israel," he said in a meeting with UN Secretary General Guterres and Assembly President Philemon Young. "The continued obstruction of the United States, complicit in the evils of the Zionists, in the Security Council is illegal and shameful, aimed at preventing any pressure on Israel to stop its aggression in Gaza and Lebanon."
At the end of his visit to New York, the Iranian minister said that " the Israeli regime will never find peace and tranquility, after its aggressions in Gaza and Lebanon and the killing of the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. The regime has absolutely no future, since its destruction will now be accelerated ."
"Israel - he added - is a great threat to the region and all countries in the region must be aware that the situation is very serious and dangerous." In short, Tehran vows revenge and evokes the possibility of sending troops to Lebanon "to fight against Israel, just like in 1981" .
"Whoever hits us, we will hit. There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and today you already know how true that is. We are determined to continue hitting our enemies," Netanyahu replied.
Joe Biden for his part declared that the killing of Nasrallah "is a form of justice for the many victims he has caused, including Americans". Reiterating however that "the time has come for a ceasefire" .
But we are facing one of the most dramatic chapters of the war that broke out on October 7th of a year ago in the Middle East, and of the history of the region itself. Because Nasrallah had managed to catalyze around his figure - elusive - enormous support throughout the region, becoming a symbol in the Arab countries. Iran and Hezbollah have lost face in front of their supporters. The enormous arsenal of the fundamentalist group in Lebanon was financed by the Islamic Republic, in the warehouses there are ballistic missiles that could easily hit the whole of Israeli territory .
In this context, there are millions of displaced people in Lebanon, and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani invites all Italian civilians to leave the country, the same country where over a thousand soldiers from the Sassari Brigade are currently leading a peacekeeping mission.
And the attacks continue. Yesterday, with Nasrallah, the deputy commander of the Pasdaran Quds Force in Lebanon, Abbas Nilforoushan, Hezbollah's number 3 Ali Karki, commander of the units in southern Lebanon, and other senior officers were also assassinated. During the night, new Israeli attacks caused several victims, including among civilians. The Tel Aviv army announced that it had killed Nabil Kawak, commander of Hezbollah's security unit and member of the Central Executive Council in an attack in the southern neighborhood of Beirut, a stronghold of the pro-Iranian Shiite organization.
(Unioneonline/L)
