Israel announces “new phase” in its conflict against Iran
The war in the Middle East entered its seventh day on Friday after Israel announced a “new phase” in its conflict against Iran, alongside new strikes targeting the Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Agence France-Presse, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.
“After the successful execution of the phase involving the surprise attack, during which we established air superiority and neutralized the ballistic missile network, we are now moving to the next phase of the operation,” Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said Thursday evening in a televised statement.
Israel will continue to “dismantle the Iranian regime” and its military capabilities during this new phase, Zamir said.
“We have other surprises prepared, which I do not intend to reveal,” he added.
On the seventh day of the war launched by the American-Israeli offensive against Iran, hostilities continue to spread across the region, particularly in Beirut, where fighting is taking place between the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah and Israeli forces, which have been ordered to advance deeper into southern Lebanon to expand their zone of control up to the border.
Panic spread in Beirut on Thursday after an unprecedented appeal from Israel calling on residents of the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital — a Hezbollah stronghold — to evacuate immediately. Massive traffic jams formed in the area, home to hundreds of thousands of people.
Later on Thursday evening, the sector was hit by strikes, including one described as “very violent,” according to the Lebanese state news agency National News Agency (Lebanon), while the Israeli army announced it had begun targeting “Hezbollah infrastructure.”
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, at least 123 people were killed and 683 injured from Monday to Thursday evening.
“Everything must be done” to prevent “dragging Lebanon into the war,” said French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, responding to an appeal from his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun.
In Tel Aviv, a series of explosions were heard late Thursday evening after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the launch of several drones and missiles at targets in the “city center.” Israeli emergency services reported no casualties from the attack.
Tehran was also struck on Thursday, and the Azadi Stadium in the Iranian capital was reduced to rubble, according to photographs distributed by several international news agencies.
The Iranian news agency Islamic Republic News Agency reported a toll of 1,230 deaths since Saturday, although AFP said it had not been able to independently verify the figure.
On the naval front, the United States said it had sunk 30 Iranian vessels since the start of the war.
Earlier, Iranian state television reported that drones launched by Iran had struck the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) deployed in the region, but the strike has not been confirmed.
Tehran’s allies, the Houthi movement in Yemen, warned through their leader that they “have their finger on the trigger” and are “ready to respond at any moment.”
Drawn into the conflict by Iranian attacks on American interests, Gulf monarchies remain reluctant to fully engage in the fighting but are organizing their defenses amid daily alerts of drone and missile attacks.
