In the midst of military operations in the Gaza Strip, Arab media quoted by Jerusalem Post they report that Israel began attacking this morning in the area of the city of Al Wazzaniin the south of Lebanon. Israeli forces have not yet confirmed. The June 18th the Tel Aviv army had made it known that the operational plans for a attack against the Land of Cedars were “approved and validated”, accelerating “the readiness of forces on the ground”.
Washington continues to preach moderation and urge Tel Aviv not to open a new front. Tuesday’s special correspondent Joe Biden in the Middle East Amos Hochstein he had said that the United States wants to “avoid further escalation towards a bigger war” between the two countries. This morning three US officials told the CNN that the US seriously fears that, in the event of a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group could overwhelm its air defenses of Tel Aviv in the north, including its vaunted air defense system Iron Dome. “We believe that at least some “Iron Dome batteries”they will be overwhelmed“a senior official said. Fears that the Iron Dome could be vulnerable to Hezbollah’s vast arsenal of missiles and drones have also been conveyed by Tel Aviv, which is moving forces from southern Gaza to the north of its territory.
“A further one must be avoided escalation with Lebanon of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip”, the US Secretary of State said in the Italian night Antony Blinken meeting with Israeli officials and Netanyahu’s advisers. The US State Department made this known, explaining that Blinken met with the Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and the National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi.
And from the Arab media comes what is currently the other news of the day. A source of Go Qudselite department of Guardians of the Revolution Iranian, to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida that theIran has security information that “the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahuordered the assassination of the leader of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, should the opportunity to do so arise.” The source claims that “Israeli security services have so far failed to find him or Nasrallah eluded attempts to locate him for a few minutes.” The same leader of the Shiite movement allied with Tehran, the source claims, rejected the offer to move with his family to the Islamic Republic.
The newspaper then reports that “security services linked to the Quds Force have conducted investigations to uncover spy networks that leak information on the exact location of Hezbollah members who are assassinated by Israel on an almost daily basis”, underlining that “after initial accusations made against supporters of Lebanese anti-Hezbollah political groups, investigations have shown that some applications and programs on smartphones, in particular WhatsApp, are the main tools of Israeli espionage in Lebanon, SyriaIraq and also in the Gaza Strip.”
On the diplomatic front, meanwhile, a new clear signal arrives in Tel Aviv. L’Armenia he recognized it State of Palestine. This was announced by Yerevan’s Foreign Ministry in a note which underlines that the Caucasus country has joined the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly calling for a cease-fire immediately in Gaza. In the note, Armenia says it is “sincerely interested” in the peace and stability of the Middle East and in a “lasting reconciliation between the Jewish and Palestinian people.” Yerevan therefore recalls that “on various international platforms we have always supported one peaceful solution and global issue of the Palestinian question and supported the principle of ‘two states’ for the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. In response, Tel Aviv’s foreign ministry summoned the Armenian ambassador to Israel “for a severe rebuke“.
Armenia is just the latest in a series of countries to have made the decision to recognize Palestine since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas following the massacre of October 7. In recent weeks the same step has been taken by SloveniaIreland, Spain and Norway.
