Missiles launched at northern Israel following strikes on Beirut
Kareem Chehayeb And Hasan Ammar
Updated ,first published
Beirut/Dubai/Jerusalem: Iran fired missiles at Israel in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire came into effect in early April; this increases the likelihood of a return to heavy conflict; Axios news outlet reported that US President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate.
Iran has long said that any peace deal with the United States would also be contingent on a ceasefire in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters who have launched rockets and drones across the border in solidarity with Tehran.
However, early on Sunday, Israel launched an attack on the Beirut region for the first time since the US announced its ceasefire plan for Lebanon last week.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said they targeted the Ramat David air base near Nazareth. The Israeli army said it detected missiles launched from Iran and its defense systems intercepted them.
Sirens blared in various parts of Israel, causing millions of people to run for shelter. The Israeli army said the missiles were intercepted and several explosions were heard in the north. Less than an hour later, the military said people could leave areas fortified against missile attacks.
“Iran made a big mistake,” Israeli military spokeswoman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said. The army’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said that “the enemy will be attacked with determination as soon as the order is given.”
Trump and Netanyahu, who spent the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, spoke by phone for just under half an hour, an Israeli official said, without giving further details. The White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Previously Trump I told Axios He would pressure Netanyahu not to retaliate.
Trump said, “There was an attack by Israel, there was an attack by Iran. We do not need another attack.” “We are very close to a final agreement with Iran. It will be a good agreement. I do not want the agreement to explode because of what is happening now.”
“I’m going to call Bibi right away and tell him not to retaliate. They both had fun. Israel had its attack, Iran had its attack. We don’t need another attack,” Trump told Axios, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
“Iran’s attacks did not harm anyone. I hope Israel does not retaliate. If Bibi responds to them, it will continue as it has for the last 47 years or the last 3000 years.”
Trump also told a Fox News Channel reporter on Monday (AEST) that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said Israel’s attacks early Sunday were not coordinated with the United States and “I’m not happy about that.”
Later, An interview with Finance TimesThe US president said Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept the deal the US negotiated with Iran because “Trump made the decision.”
“He won’t have a choice,” Trump was quoted as saying.
“I make the decisions. I make all the decisions. He doesn’t make the decisions.”
While Pakistan was trying to restart negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would restart a full-scale war in the Middle East. Iran wants an agreement that includes an end to the war in Lebanon.
Trump told Financial Times Iran’s attacks did not change its desire to conclude negotiations. Asked what would happen if such a deal “essentially” failed, Trump said he might consider a commando raid on Iran.
“U.S. forces in the Middle East remain alert and ready,” U.S. Central Command stated on X shortly before the missile was launched.
Trump has leaned on Israel to halt its attacks in Lebanon to make room for a peace deal with Iran, including berating Netanyahu with obscenities in a phone call last week. After this call, it appeared that Netanyahu gave up his plans to hit Beirut.
But Israel never fully stopped its assault on Lebanon, which killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Hezbollah, which is not involved in the ceasefire talks, continues its attacks and says it will not give up its weapons unless Israel stops its attacks and withdraws from Lebanon.
Netanyahu said that Israel’s attacks on Sunday on the southern outskirts of Beirut, in the area known as Dahiyeh, which has long been a Hezbollah stronghold, were in response to Hezbollah opening fire on Israel.
Associated Press journalists also heard loud explosions in the sky over Damascus. State media in Syria attributed the explosions to Israeli air defenses. Syria temporarily closed its southern airspace for 12 hours and suspended operations at Damascus airport.
Iraq also temporarily closed its airspace and suspended air navigation for air traffic safety reasons following the launch of Iranian rockets, civil aviation officials told Reuters on Sunday. Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said Iraqi airspace will remain closed for 72 hours.
Israel’s incursions and land occupation into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah and the militant group’s resistance to disarmament have complicated an overall agreement to end the war in the Middle East. Iran says any deal must include an end to the conflict in Lebanon.
Last week, Israel said it would strike the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, but urgent talks through Washington halted this on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.
On Sunday night, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for opening fire on Israel earlier in the day.
Hezbollah wants an end to direct talks between Lebanon and Israel; instead, he supports Iran’s position that the general ceasefire agreement between Tehran and Washington covers the situation in Lebanon.
Efforts to mediate that larger deal continued Sunday, with Pakistan’s interior minister visiting Iran to meet with officials and Egypt’s foreign minister and his Qatari counterpart saying they had discussed “proposed elements” of a potential deal without any details.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the United States began attacking Iran. More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon. At least 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians lost their lives in the clashes.
Meanwhile, Iran continued to assert its dominance in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States continued its blockade of Iranian ports; Shipments of oil, natural gas, and fertilizer were affected and the global economy suffered.
Netanyahu, who faces elections this year, wants to continue Israel’s offensive until he believes Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.
Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday. According to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Mohsen Naqvi was conveying a message from Pakistan’s chief of staff, Marshal Asim Munir, to Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. No details were given regarding the content of the message.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was elected ruler of the Islamic Republic following the killing of his father on February 28, the first day of the war.
Reuters, AP
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