Peace,
Marekani imetoa taarifa rasmi ya shambulio la vita kamili kwa Israel kutoka Iran, huku mamlaka za Iran zikionya vikali nchi za Quatar, Saudi Arabia na Egypt kutoruhusu anga lao kutumiwa na Israel vinginevyo Iran itazishambulia pia.
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Iran and its allies threatened retribution on Thursday following the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, heightening regional tensions. As mourners filled Tehran's streets calling for revenge, Israel warned its adversaries of severe consequences for any retaliatory actions.
Iran and its regional allies vowed retaliation on Thursday for the deaths of
Hamas and
Hezbollah leaders, raising regional tensions as mourners filled Tehran's city centre calling for revenge.
A
public funeral was held for Hamas's political chief
Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital where he was killed early Wednesday in an attack which Israel has not commented on.
Haniyeh's body was then flown to
Qatar, where he had resided and where he is to be laid to rest on Friday, when his group called for a "day of furious rage" in the Palestinian territories and across the region.
Hezbollah chief
Hassan Nasrallah, addressing the funeral of the Lebanese group's top
military commander, said Israel and "those who are behind it must await our inevitable response" to Fuad Shukr's and Haniyeh's killings within hours of each other.
"You do not know what red lines you crossed," Nasrallah said, addressing Israel, a day after Shukr was killed in a strike in south
Beirut.
Israel, which said Shukr's assassination was a response to deadly rocket fire last week on the annexed
Golan Heights, warned its adversaries on Thursday they would "pay a very high price" for any "aggression".
"Israel is at a very high level of preparation for any scenario, both defensive and offensive," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
"Those who attack us, we will attack in return."
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that Iranian officials met in Tehran on Wednesday with representatives of the so-called "axis of resistance", a loose alliance of Tehran-backed groups hostile to Israel, to discuss their next steps.
"Two scenarios were discussed: a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a staggered response from each party," said the source who had been briefed on the meeting, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The leader of Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels vowed a "military response" to Israel's "major escalation".
Analysts told AFP that the retaliation would be measured to avoid a wider conflagration.
Iran and the groups it backs "will more than likely try to avert a war, while also strongly deterring Israel from continuing with this new policy, this targeted shock and awe," said Amal Saad, a Hezbollah researcher and lecturer at Britain's Cardiff University.
In Tehran, Iran's supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh having earlier threatened "harsh punishment" for his killing.
Read more
Who was Hamas leader Haniyeh, the ex-Palestinian PM killed in Tehran strike?
'Roaring marches'
Crowds, including women shrouded in black, carried posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags in a procession and ceremony that began at Tehran University, an AFP correspondent reported.
Senior Iranian officials, including President
Masoud Pezeshkian and Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami, attended the ceremony, state television images showed.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced the day before that Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed in a pre-dawn strike Wednesday on their accommodation in Tehran.
The New York Times however reported, citing anonymous sources including two Iranian officials, that the blast was
caused by an explosive device planted several months ago.
When asked about the report, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters "there was no other Israeli aerial attack... in all the
Middle East" on the night of Shukr's killing.
Qatar-based Haniyeh had been visiting Tehran for Pezeshkian's swearing-in on Tuesday.
Pezeshkian said Iran "will continue to support with firmer determination the axis of resistance", the official IRNA news agency said.
Qatar-based network
Al Jazeera reported that the plane carrying Haniyeh's body had landed in Doha, where the Palestinian leader is to be buried following prayers at the Qatari capital's largest mosque.
Hamas called in a statement for a day of protests on Friday.
"Let roaring anger marches start from every mosque," it said.
Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Haniyeh a "martyr" and announced a national day of mourning on Friday "in solidarity with the Palestinian cause".
Pakistan too announced a national day of mourning.
Read more
Fears of retaliation, regional conflict following killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
US Pentagon official: Iran and its allies will launch a full-scale attack on Israel within the next 72 hours. Iranâs FM has notified Qatar and Saudi Arabia that a military operation against Israel is imminent, cautioning them not to allow their airspace to be used against Iran.
israelobserver.quora.com
