The leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said a response to Israel’s killing of a top commander in Beirut is coming.
Speaking in a televised speech to mark one week since the killing of Fuad Shukr, Hassan Nasrallah said the retaliation would be “strong” and “effective”, and that the killing would not be considered a regular attack.
He added that the group may work alone or in collaboration with other Iranian-backed groups in the region.
Countries around the world have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon in recent days, amid concerns that a possible attack by heavily armed Hezbollah in Israel could lead to a wider war between the two sides.
Iran also vowed revenge following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week. Both Hamas and Iran blamed Israel, which did not comment.
On Tuesday afternoon, low-flying Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier above Beirut, minutes before Nasrallah began his speech.
Nasrallah, who spoke for more than an hour and a half, said the sonic booms were intended to annoy those who had gathered to listen to him.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel said it had carried out an airstrike against what it said was a “military structure” operated by Hezbollah, a military and political organization, in southern Lebanon.
Four people died in a strike on a house in the town of Maifadoun, 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, said the Ministry of Health in Lebanon.
The four men were Hezbollah fighters, security sources told AFP. In apparent response, the group carried out drone strikes on towns in northern Israel, injuring two people.
Several countries, including the US, have urged citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. The country’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that he was working to ensure that Hezbollah did not cause a major escalation with its response to Shukr’s death.
Israel’s attack on Maifadoun was carried out by warplanes, and was led by intelligence agencies, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement posted on social media. Officials from the internal security agency Shin Bet and the military intelligence agency Aman provided assistance to the military.
In response, Hezbollah fired what it called a “swarm” of drones into Israel, wounding two people in the northern town of Mazra’a. But a source in the group told Reuters news agency that the attack was not part of their response to Shukr’s death.
US President Joe Biden met with his top national security team on Monday as concerns over the attack on Israel grew.
Mr. Biden said he was informed of preparations to support Israel, should it not be attacked, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said officials are working “night and day” to prevent escalation.
The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, urged “all organizations, as well as those powerful states, to take immediate action to de-escalate what has become a very serious situation”.
Elsewhere, dozens of American soldiers were injured in a strike on a base in Iraq. The rocket fire in the Ain al-Assed area is the latest in a series of attacks on the base, which hosts US forces fighting the Islamic State group.
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