Gallant: Hezbollah could cost Lebanese dearly, ‘they can’t imagine what might happen’
IDF chief says Israel able to launch swift response anywhere in the region amid threats of attack from Iran, proxies; Netanyahu tells Israelis ‘to stay calm and composed’
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday warned Lebanon of the steep price it would pay if Hezbollah makes do on threats to retaliate forcefully against Israel for the killing of a senior commander in the terror group.
“As things stand, [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah may drag Lebanon into paying extremely heavy prices. They can’t even imagine what might happen,” Gallant said during a visit to troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade.
“This may also deteriorate into a war. It’s not theoretical, it’s real,” he added, according to a statement from his office.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to remain calm as Jerusalem braced for a potentially separate attack from Iran for the assassination of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
“We are continuing forward to victory. I know that Israeli citizens are on alert, and I ask you one thing — stay calm and composed,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Tel Hashomer army recruitment base, where he met draftees to the IDF’s Armored Corps and Combat Engineering Corps.
“We are prepared for both defense and offense, we are striking our enemies and are also determined to defend ourselves,” he told troops, according to a statement from his office.
Netanyahu expressed his pride in the soldiers, both those in the reserves and in the standing army, calling them the “backbone of the nation.”
Speaking to Israeli Air Force personnel at the Tel Nof airbase, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Israel is on high alert and will be able to launch a quick response to any attack.
“We will know how to launch a very quick attack anywhere in Lebanon, anywhere in Gaza, anywhere in the Middle East, aboveground and belowground,” Halevi said.
“We will send a very clear message to our enemies, those who attack us, those who in every speech talk about how they seek to destroy the State of Israel. We will strike them, and we will continue to grow stronger,” he added.
Turning to Hamas’s Gaza leader, who was promoted to head of the terror group’s politburo after the assassination of Haniyeh, Halevi asserted that Yahya Sinwar’s new title wouldn’t prevent Israel from hunting him down.
“Yahya Sinwar yesterday received a new title, he is the head of the political bureau of Hamas. This title, a political one, will not absolve him from the fact that he is a murderer who was involved in the entire planning and execution of what happened on October 7,” the IDF chief said.
“Therefore, the change in his name, not only does not prevent us from looking for him, it spurs us on and we will make an effort to find him, attack him, and [cause Hamas to] replace the head of the political bureau once more,” he said.
Egypt asks airlines to avoid Iran airspace on Thursday
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Egypt instructed all of its airlines to avoid Iranian air space for a three-hour period in the early morning on Thursday.
The NOTAM, a safety notice provided to pilots on Wednesday, said the instruction would be in effect from 0100 to 0400 GMT. It provided no further details as to why the notice was issued.
“All Egyptian carriers shall avoid overflying Tehran (Flight information Region) FIR. No flight plan will be accepted overflying such territory,” the notice said, referring to the three-hour period provided.
Many airlines are revising their schedules to avoid Iranian and Lebanese air space while also calling off flights to Israel and Lebanon.
“Such a NOTAM from Egypt is very unusual. It is possible that this is an indicator of an Iranian response to Israel, and in turn a potentially large set of air space disruptions — at the same time, there may be another reason,” OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information, said.
On Sunday, Jordanian authorities asked all airlines landing at its airports to carry 45 minutes worth of extra fuel.
Countries in the region, including Jordan, closed their airspace earlier this year amidst aerial attacks on Israel.
Macron urges Iranian counterpart to curb escalation
For his part, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that Tehran will never remain silent in the face of aggression against its interests and security.
Macron responded during the call that Iran must do everything in his power to avoid escalation in the region and that the cycle of retaliation must stop, the Elysee Palace said in a statement.
Macron said Iran had to call on the “destabilizing players it supports” to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid a conflagration.
Tensions have soared in the Middle East following the assassination of Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, with the West racing to try and convince Iran to avoid a regional war. Israel is widely understood to be behind both strikes last week, though it has only taken responsibility for the latter.
Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said in a Wednesday statement that Tehran’s response will take place “at the right time and in the appropriate shape.”
In Lebanon, many in Beirut’s southern suburbs — a packed residential area known as Dahiyeh, which is also a Hezbollah bastion — have been trying to leave, fearing a full-blown war between the Iran-backed group and Israel in the wake of Shukr’s killing.
Those looking to flee have sought to secure housing outside Dahiyeh, but spiking demand has sent prices soaring.
On Tuesday, Nasrallah said his Shiite Muslim movement and Iran were “obliged to respond” to Israel “whatever the consequences.”
With Israel and the US girding for an Iranian attack that could overshadow an unprecedented April assault — during which more than 300 drones and missiles were launched at Israel — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that the US would not hesitate to also respond to an attack Monday on US forces in Iraq by an Iranian-backed militia.
Seven US personnel were injured in the attack.
The rocket attack was the latest in what has been an uptick in strikes on US forces by Iranian-backed militias. It is not believed to be connected to the Hezbollah and Hamas killings.
In recent weeks, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have resumed launching attacks on bases housing US forces in Iraq and Syria after a lull of several months, following a strike on a base in Jordan in late January that killed three American soldiers and prompted a series of retaliatory US strikes.
