Iran’s supreme leader vowed in a rare address on Friday that his allies around the region would keep fighting Israel, as he defended his country’s missile strike on its foe.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s address in Tehran followed Iran’s second-ever direct attack on Israel. It was also the first since exchanges of fire between Tehran-backed Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops escalated into full-blown war in Lebanon.
Speaking ahead of the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel where about 250 people were taken hostage, Khamenei defended the Palestinian group’s “logical and legal” actions and hailed its “fierce defence” against Israeli forces.
The unprecedented Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, triggering global condemnation but also supporting fire from Iran-backed groups around the Middle East, mainly Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Hezbollah on Friday said it clashed again with Israeli troops on the Lebanese border.
Nearly a year into the Gaza war, Israel has shifted its focus north, aiming to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by cross-border Hezbollah rocket attacks to return home.
Israel’s military launched an intensified wave of strikes on Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon, killing more than 1,110 people since 23 September, and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in a country already mired in economic crisis.
The attacks have killed an Iranian general, a host of Hezbollah commanders and, in the biggest blow to the group in decades, assassinated its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
US military strikes 15 Houthi targets in Yemen
The US military said it carried out 15 strikes on Friday against targets linked to Iran-aligned Houthi fighters in Yemen, where residents reported blasts at military outposts and even an airport.
Central Command, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, said the targets were tied to Houthi offensive military capabilities, but did not detail whether that included missile, drone or radar capabilities.
and say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza. They have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.
Border crossing closed
In Lebanon, Israeli bombardment has put at least four hospitals out of service, and on Friday a first delivery of medical aid organised by the United Nations reached Beirut airport.
Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Friday cut off the main international road to Syria, with Israel saying it aimed at preventing weapons flows.
Lebanon’s disaster management unit said more than 374,000 people — most of them refugees from Syria’s war — crossed back into the relative safety of their home country in the final week of September.
In Hezbollah’s bastion in Beirut’s southern suburbs, US and Israeli media reports said intense bombardment had targeted the militant group’s potential successor, Hashem Safieddine, a week after Nasrallah’s killing.
The Israeli military has not commented on that strike.
Khamenei’s address came as Israel weighs retaliation for Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday which Tehran called revenge for the killing of Nasrallah and other top figures.
One person was reported killed in the Iranian barrage.
Satellite pictures of Nevatim air base in southern Israel showed apparent damage to a structure on Wednesday, compared with an earlier picture taken on 3 August.
United States President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel’s biggest military supplier, on Friday urged Israel against striking Iran’s oil facilities, a day after he said Washington was “discussing” the possibility of such strikes.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Beirut and said his government backs “the efforts for a ceasefire” that would be acceptable to Hezbollah and come “simultaneously with a ceasefire in Gaza”.
Biden said the US was working to “rally the rest of the world and our allies” to avoid the fighting spreading even further.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators tried unsuccessfully for months to reach a Gaza truce and the release of hostages still held by Hamas.
Israel announced this week that its troops had started ground raids into parts of southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold.
On the Israel-Lebanon border, the Israeli military said its forces had killed 250 Hezbollah fighters this week and hit “over 2,000 military targets”.
Hezbollah on Friday said its fighters again clashed with Israeli soldiers during “infiltration” attempts.
The group also said it kept up its rocket fire, and Israel’s military reported around 200 projectiles fired into Israel on Friday.
The Islamic Health Committee, a Hezbollah-affiliated emergency service, reported 11 of its personnel were killed Friday by Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said nine soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon.
