RESPONSE attacks on Israel by Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement would differ in the methods used but would all target military facilities and would not harm civilians, the former head of the Lebanese-Israeli border commission, General Abdul Rahman Shehaitli, told Sputnik on Friday.
Earlier on July 31, the Israeli army (IDF) launched an airstrike on residential buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut, killing Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, along with at least four civilians.
Meanwhile, the political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in his residence in Tehran last Wednesday. The Palestinian movement accused Israel of killing Haniyeh and vowed to retaliate.
NBC News reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official, that the Zionist state is preparing for a possible prolonged attack by Hamas and Hezbollah seeking to avenge the deaths of their leaders.
“An Iranian retaliatory strike against Israel will certainly be different in nature from Hezbollah’s response in Lebanon. Hezbollah’s response is calculated based on the reality of armed confrontation with the Israeli military. Iran is a major country in the region, so the principles of its retaliatory strike are developed based on the country’s interests,” Shehaitli said.
Hezbollah will launch targeted attacks that will hurt Israel. The group will not limit itself to firing rockets that will be intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome, just to show off for the global media.
Read also: Blinken: Iran, Hezbollah attack on Israel could happen as early as Monday
“No one can predict what the retaliatory attack will be like. However, there are several possible scenarios. It could be a major attack on one of the central military headquarters that has a strategic role, or it could be a military air base, or the assassination of a high-ranking military official,” Shehaitli said.
Meanwhile, Tehran must consider the negative consequences for Iran and the entire region if a full-scale war breaks out. At the same time, the Iranian leadership cannot allow its prestige to be damaged at home and abroad, and it cannot allow a murder committed on Iranian soil to go unpunished.
Given this, Iran’s response will most likely be carried out by the country’s secret services. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death so far, but if Iran’s secret services get confirmation that his killing was orchestrated by Israel, the response will be similar, Shehaitli said. (Ant/Z-2)
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