Middle East: Iran vows 'harsh' response to Israel attack

Iran has warned of a powerful response to Saturday's deadly Israeli attack on Iranian military facilities, the latest round in a series of tit-for-tat attacks by the two arch-enemies.

Israeli warplanes carried out the strikes in retaliation for Tehran's firing a barrage of missiles against Israel.

Iran had described the salvo as a reprisal for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a commander of the country's Revolutionary Guards.

Since the weekend, Israel has warned Iran against retaliation. Tehran, stating it does not seek war, has vowed to respond.

"The recent action of the Zionist regime in attacking parts of our country was a desperate move and the Islamic Republic of Iran will give it a harsh and regretful response," said Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, a senior aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a quote from the Tasnim news agency.

A report from US news website Axios says Israeli intelligence has suggested Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days — possibly before the US presidential election on November 5.

The report said the attack was expected to be carried out from Iraq using a large number of drones and ballistic missiles.

The report said pro-Iran militias in Iraq could be used in an attempt by Tehran to avoid another Israeli assault on strategic targets in Iran.

Three peope were killed in Israeli strikes on the Syrian town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

The official SANA news agency also reported the "Israeli aggression targeted the Qusayr area in the southern Homs countryside," adding it caused "material damage to the industrial city and some residential neighborhoods."

According to the reports, the attack targeted the industrial zone of Qusayr and some of the city's residential neighborhoods.

The Israeli military, which typically does not comment on specific reports of strikes in Syria, said in a statement it had hit "weapons storage facilities and command centers" used by militant group Hezbollah in the area.

Nearly half a million Palestinians remain in northern Gaza, where they face increasing risk of famine. Two sisters, Riham and Faten Lobbad, filmed accounts for DW of their daily life under the constant threat of bombardment and lack of food in Gaza City.

A Hezbollah attack on the northern Israeli border community of Metula killed seven people, Israeli medics said.

It is the deadliest such attack since Israel's incursion into Lebanon earlier this month.

Earlier reports said an Israeli farmer and four foreign farm workers had been killed. Two more deaths were later reported in the northern city of Haifa.

Metula, Israel's northernmost town which is surrounded by Lebanon on three sides, has suffered heavy damage from rockets. 

In October 2023, most residents of the town evacuated, leaving only security officials and agricultural workers behind.

Israel's military issued an evacuation order for residents in Lebanon's Baalbek city and surrounding areas on Thursday, for the second day in a row.

Lebanon's National News Agency later said that Israeli aircraft had "launched four strikes on the village of Douris and the surroundings of the city of Baalbek."

At least 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

Those strikes happened at the same time as newly-appointed Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Kassem gave his first televised speech. 

Thursday's evacuation order included people living in the Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the port city of Tyre.

It is one of several refugee camps dating back to the 1948 war — known as the Nakba in Arabic — when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out of what is now Israel.

US envoy Amos Hochstein held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss a cease-fire in Lebanon between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. 

"The prime minister specified that the main issue is not paperwork for this or that deal, but Israel's determination and capacity to ensure the deal's application and to prevent any threat to its security from Lebanon," Netanyahu's office said following the meeting in Jerusalem.

On Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed optimism about a possible cease-fire deal. Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem also said his group would accept a truce under certain conditions.

Meanwhile, Brett McGurk, a US security official, traveled with Hochstein to Israel to discuss a potential cease-fire in Gaza.

But on Thursday, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP that the group rejected the idea of a short-term pause in the fighting as put forward by US and Qatari mediators.

lo/ab (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)