Israel-Hezbollah-Iran conflict updates: Fireball as Israel ‘attacks’ Russia air base
Iran’s leader is poleaxed by fear that Israeli spies have infiltrated those around him while Israel has reportedly targeted a Syrian air base used by Russia.
Israel has continued its bombardment of parts of Lebanon as it considers how it will respond to Iran’s attack earlier this week.
On Thursday in the US, President Joe Biden responded to a reporter’s question whether the US would “allow” Israel to strike Iran. “We don’t ‘allow’ Israel, we advise Israel.” he said. Mr Biden then added: “There is nothing going to happen today”.
However, he did say there were “discussions” taking place about Israel hitting Iran’s oil facilities. Iran is a major oil producer.
Overnight on Thursday, there were reports of an explosion at or near an air base in Syria used by Russian air forces.
In Iran, it is claimed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “no longer trusts anyone,” for fear of Israeli spies. It’s also been revealed he desperately, and unsuccessfully, tried to get Hezbollah’s leader to flee Lebanon.
Biden says ‘discussion’ over hitting Iran oil sites
Talking to reporters outside The White House on Thursday, Joe Biden was asked if the US would support Israel hitting Iran’s oil facilities.
“We’re in discussion of that,” he said.
Iran is the world’s seventh largest oil producer and a key member if the OPEC group of oil exporting nations.
Following Mr Biden’s comments, the price of crude oil shot up by 5 per cent fuelling fears of an economic shock if Iran and Israel’s fighting continues.
However, much of Iran’s oil goes not to the West but to China. And other oil producing nations, such as Saudi Arabia, could export more to fill a gap.
But there could be other consequences – such as Iran blocking the Straits of Hormuz, a key waterway where large amounts of oil is exported from.
Israel attack on or near Russian air base
Israel has reportedly used drones or missiles to attack an air base in Syria used by Russia, or close to it.
The Hmeimim air base is one of Russia’s most significant military installations in the Middle East. Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the base in the past.
There are reports a Boeing 747 from Iran’s Qassem Fars Airlines landed at the base shortly before the attack. The airline is linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and it has been accused of carrying weapons from Tehran’s proxies in the past.
Hmeimim is close to Lebanon’s northern border and it is thought Iranian weapons destined for Hezbollah were the target.
The attack occurred 30 minutes after the plane landed. A large orange fireball could be seen in the vicinity.
Both Russian and Syrian air defences attempted to intercept the aerial bombardment for 40 minutes, but some got through.
It’s unclear if the base itself or an external warehouse was attacked.
Russia’s TASS news agency said a weapons depot was struck in the Syrian coastal city of Jablah, near to where the air base is located. But it did not mention the air base specifically.
“Israel is bound to launch air strikes against any Syrian airport that lets Iranian planes in,” geopolitical expert and former IDF soldier Michael Horowitz told UK newspaper The Telegraph.
“Tehran probably thought its best shot was to use Khmeimim because of the Russian presence”.
It’s not thought Russian parts of the base were targeted. But it could lead to a difficult conversation between Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Putin.
Confirmation Iranian missile landed on Israeli air base
Although Israel said the vast majority of missiles fired from Iran were intercepted, an image has emerged of a direct hit on an Israeli air base.
The satellite image shows Nevatim air base, in the Negev desert, south of Jerusalem.
The roof of an aircraft hangar appears to have a huge hole in it and there is debris around the building.
The IDF has said damage was caused to office buildings and maintenance areas.
Some have also suggested there was some damage to aprons used by aircraft including US sourced advanced F-35s.
It also appears the Tel Nof air base, south of Tel Aviv, was hit.
According to the Times of Israel, the country’s air force deemed the attack “ineffective” as no critical infrastructure or jets was put out of action.
One death, of a Palestinian man, was reported following the barrage.
Nonetheless, images on social media have shown several missiles apparently exploding at or near Israeli air bases.
“It looks like more missiles seem to be hitting targets in Israel this time around,” Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in the US told National Public Radio.
He added that was likely because “the Iranians seem to be using newer, more sophisticated missiles”.
These could have included more sophisticated ballistic missiles which travel into space before descending at immense speed.
These much vaunted Iron Dome system is not designed for these kinds of missiles. Israel does have the Arrow system which is designed for intercepting missiles from space but it has fewer rockets it can fire.
Iranian leader ‘no longer trusts anyone’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is so paranoid about Israeli spies that he no longer trusts the people around him, according to a Reuters report.
It has also emerged that Khamenei warned slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to flee Lebanon for Iran after Israel’s audacious pager attack.
Nasrallah refused saying he was confined in security measures to protect him.
Iran then sent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan to Beirut to tell Nasrallah that Israel was planning on killing him and implore him to leave the country.
But Nilforoushan himself was killed in the September 27 Beirut bombing that also killed Nasrallah.
Khamenei has been sent to a secure location in Iran amid fears Israeli spies could be embedded deep in the ranks of the government.
Tehran has been deeply shaken by Israel’s killing of essentially all Hezbollah’s leadership as well as a good proportion of its weaponry.
“It shook Iran to the core. It shows how Iran is deeply infiltrated,” Hezbollah expert at the Swedish Defence University Magnus Ranstorp told Reuters.
“Also, they not only killed Nasrallah, they killed Nilforoushan,” who was close to Khamenei.
Iran has reportedly made multiple arrests among government and military ranks of people it suspects of working with Israel.
“The trust that held everything together has disappeared,” an official told Reuters.
Khamenei “no longer trusts anyone,” said another senior source.
Hamas kingpin and October 7 mastermind killed in air strike
Gaza’s de facto prime minister Rawhi Mushtaha — the “right-hand man” of Hamas terror leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar — was killed in an air strike in Gaza, Israel said on Thursday.
Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of Hamas’ government in Gaza, was one of three of the terror group’s leaders confirmed dead in an earlier missile strike on an underground compound in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defence Forces announced.
Lebanon: Nine died in central Beirut strike
Lebanon’s health ministry has said nine people died when Israel struck a building in the centre of Beirut.
The building is not in the Hezbollah dominated southern suburbs and was in an area thought less of risk from an Israeli attack.
Israel said the building contained a Hezbollah run medical centre.
Lebanon has said 1974 people have now died, including 127 children, in Israeli attacks since October 8 last year, the day after Hamas attacked Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel has said 15 Hezbollah fighters dead in air strikes in southern Lebanon.
Originally published as Israel-Hezbollah-Iran conflict updates: Fireball as Israel ‘attacks’ Russia air base
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