Iran set launch Israel attack on Jewish holy day, US intelligence officials believe
US intelligence officials believe Iran is waiting for a major Jewish holy day to launch an attack in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas’ leader.
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Israel and the US are preparing for a retaliatory strike from Iran as soon as this weekend, in the wake of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
In what would mark a significant escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, Israel is on high alert for an Iranian attack and the US is beefing up its military assets in the region to counter the threat.
The Pentagon announced on Saturday that it would bolster its presence in the Middle East by deploying greater numbers of warships and fighter jets in the region “to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran” or its proxies.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement that Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin “has ordered adjustments to US military posture designed to improve US force protection, to increase support for the defence of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies”.
It would be the second time Iran has directly attacked Israel since the October 7 atrocities.
In April, the rogue state launched around 300 drones and missiles at Israel but gave warning ahead of time, giving Israel and the US the time to prepare.
Iran are not likely to repeat that this time around.
The Wall Street Journal reported any diplomatic efforts to prevent the attack from Iran have failed.
“There is no point. Israel crossed all the red lines,” an Iranian diplomatic source claimed to the Journal.
“Our response will be swift and heavy.”
HOLY DAY DATE’ SET FOR IRAN ATTACK
US intelligence officials believe Iran is waiting for a major Jewish holy day to launch an attack in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas’ leader.
Iran, in co-ordination with Hezbollah and the Houthis, plans to attack on Tisha B’Av as Israelis lament the destruction of the first and second Temples, according to Western intelligence sources quoted by Sky News Arabia.
The annual holy day, which begins on August 12 local time, was chosen to add a layer of psychological torment to Israelis already marking the occasion by fasting and mourning, according to the report.
Previous attacks on Israel have likewise coincided with Jewish holidays, with the October 7 terror attack falling on Simchat Torah and Shabbat, and the 1973 war beginning on Yom Kippur.
It comes after Iran raised a rare “red flag of revenge” after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Bearing the inscription “O ye avengers of Hussein”, the symbolic flag was raised over the Jamkaran Mosque as Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel “prepared the ground for a severe punishment”.
“Following this bitter, tragic event which has taken place within the borders of the Islamic Republic, it is our duty to take revenge,” Khamenei added.
The flag is thought have only been raised six times in history, including after the assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Leader Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.
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AUSTRALIANS WARNED TO FLEE LEBANON
Prime Minster Anthony Albanese has pleaded for Australians in Lebanon to leave the country immediately amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Mr Albanese said despite previous travel warnings, thousands of Australians had travelled since the start of the year as he raised concerns over the possibility of Beirut’s airport closing if the conflict erupts into a war.
He also reiterated that the government wanted a de-escalation, and did not want to see further conflict in the region.
“There are thousands of Australian citizens, thousands who have travelled to Lebanon this year in spite of the very clear statements that the Australian government has made,” Mr Albanese said.
“These travel warnings aren’t academic. They’re real, and people need to focus on them.
“We are concerned that if there is an escalation at Beirut airport, if it is closed to commercial aircraft, there may well be difficulty getting people home.”
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HAMAS BOSS KILLED BY BOMB HIDDEN MONTHS AGO
Iranian officials met with allies from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza to plan retaliatory attacks against Israel as it was revealed the bomb that killed Hamas’ leader was smuggled into the heavily-guarded guesthouse two months ago.
As the Middle East edged closer to war, new details emerged over the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who was first thought to have been killed in an air strike after Iranian media first reported three missiles launched by drone.
Several Iranian and American officials in the Middle East said the bomb was hidden in the highly secure complex, which is guarded by the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, after Israeli intelligence learned the room Haniyeh would be using during his visit to Tehran.
While Israel has not confirmed or denied its involvement, multiple reports claim that the Mossad spy agency planted a bomb in the room of the Iranian guesthouse at least two months before Haniyeh arrived for the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
The high-tech device “used artificial intelligence” and was detonated remotely at about 2am, local time, by Mossad agents on the ground in Iran who received confirmation of Haniyeh in the room, according to The New York Times, Axios and CNN.
The device was so sophisticated and targeted that it caused no harm to the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who was staying in the room next door.
It was unknown how the bomb was smuggled in or where it was hidden.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that Iranian officials met in Tehran on Wednesday local time with representatives of the so-called “axis of resistance”, a loose alliance of Tehran-backed groups hostile to Israel, to discuss their next steps.
“Two scenarios were discussed: a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a staggered response from each party,” said the source who had been briefed on the meeting, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels vowed a “military response” to Israel’s “major escalation”.
Analysts told AFP that the retaliation would be measured to avoid a wider conflagration.
Iran and the groups it backs “will more than likely try to avert a war, while also strongly deterring Israel from continuing with this new policy, this targeted shock and awe,” said Amal Saad, a Hezbollah researcher and lecturer at Britain’s Cardiff University.
The successful operation is deeply embarrassing for Iranian officials said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who planned to personally attend the meeting of Iran’s allies.
Representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Yemen’s Houthi movement, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi resistance groups were also joining, according to Reuters.
“Iran and the resistance members will conduct a thorough assessment after the meeting in Tehran to find the best and most effective way to retaliate against the Zionist regime (Israel),” a senior Iranian official told the outlet.
“How Iran and the resistance front will respond is currently being reviewed … This will certainly happen and the Zionist regime (Israel) will undoubtedly regret it,” General Mohammad Baqeri, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, added on state TV.
DOZENS OF ROCKETS FIRED AT ISRAEL
Hezbollah said it launched rockets at northern Israel “in response” to a deadly Israeli strike in south Lebanon – the group’s first attack after Israel killed a top commander earlier this week.
The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it “launched dozens of Katyusha rockets … in response to the Israeli enemy’s attack on … (the southern village of Shama) that killed a number of civilians”.
The Israeli military said that shortly after the rocket fire, the air force “struck the Hezbollah launcher from which the projectiles were launched”.
The Lebanese health ministry said earlier that four Syrians were killed in an Israeli strike on the south, where Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire since the Gaza war began in October.
“The health ministry announces … four Syrian nationals were martyred” in an “Israeli strike” on the southern village of Shama, it said in a statement.
FUNERALS HELD FOR MILITANT LEADERS
A public funeral was held for Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital where he was killed early Wednesday local time in an attack which Israel has not commented on.
Haniyeh’s body was then flown to Qatar, where he had resided and where he is to be laid to rest on Friday local time, when his group called for a “day of furious rage” in the Palestinian territories and across the region.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, addressing the funeral of the Lebanese group’s top military commander, said Israel and “those who are behind it must await our inevitable response” to Fuad Shukr’s and Haniyeh’s killings within hours of each other.“
You do not know what red lines you crossed,” Nasrallah said, addressing Israel, a day after Shukr was killed in a strike in south Beirut.
Crowds, including women shrouded in black, carried posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags in a procession and ceremony that began at Tehran University, an AFP correspondent reported.
Senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami, attended the ceremony, state television images showed.
Qatar-based network Al Jazeera reported that the plane carrying Haniyeh’s body had landed in Doha, where the Palestinian leader is to be buried following prayers at the Qatari capital’s largest mosque.
Hamas called in a statement for a day of protests on Friday local time.
“Let roaring anger marches start from every mosque,” it said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Haniyeh a “martyr” and announced a national day of mourning on Friday “in solidarity with the Palestinian cause”.
Pakistan too announced a national day of mourning.
ISRAEL DECLARES HAMAS CHIEF KILLED
Israel says it has killed one of the reported masterminds of the October 7 attacks, Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif.
The country’s military said the top Hamas commander was killed in a strike it carried out in southern Gaza last month.
The claim of Deif’s death comes a day after Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran.
“Mohammed Deif, the Osama bin Laden of Gaza was eliminated” on July 13, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.
This is a “significant milestone in the process of dismantling Hamas” in Gaza, Gallant added.
The army said fighter jets had struck Khan Yunis on July 13 and “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike”.
Hamas is yet to make a statement.
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