Iran is warning Israel against retaliation for the Hezbollah rocket attack – using an Iranian-made missile – that killed 12 children and wounded 30 others Saturday in Israeli Druze village of Majdal Shams.
The Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani backed a claim by Hezbollah that the Lebanese Iranian proxy had “nothing to do with” the attack and warned Israel not to engage in “adventures” across the northern border.
“After ten months of mass slaughter in the Gaza Strip and the massacre of Palestinian women and children, the apartheid Israeli regime is seeking to mislead the public opinion with a forged scenario to distract the world’s attention from the crimes it commits on a large scale in Palestine,” Kanaani claimed in a statement on the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website quoted by Tasnim News Agency.
“The Zionist regime does not have the minimum moral authority to opine or judge the incident in the Majdal Shams region, and the regime’s claims about others will not be heeded,” Kanaani said.
“Any new Zionist adventure against Lebanon, under the pretext of the Majdal Shams incident in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights can lead to the expansion of the scope of instability, insecurity and the flames of war in the region,” he warned.
“In that case, the mentioned regime will be definitively and basically responsible for the unpredicted repercussions and reactions to the stupid behavior,” the Iranian spokesperson warned.
Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel this past April with some 300 explosive drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
The Iranian onslaught was repelled by a coalition comprised of forces from Israel, the US, the UK and several other nations. About 95 percent of the projectiles and drones fired at Israel were intercepted, most of them outside Israeli airspace.
It is not clear whether Iran would again attempt a direct attack on Israel, and Israel’s plans for retaliation have not been disclosed.
Nevertheless nevertheless cleared out several of its high-value positions in anticipation of a powerful Israeli response to the massacre.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a pre-cabinet situation assessment at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv immediately upon his return from a visit to the United States. Netanyahu cut short the visit and boarded the plane Saturday night after receiving news of the attack.
The prime minister was set to convene a meeting of the security council late Sunday afternoon to approve retaliation plans discussed during the pre-cabinet meeting.
