Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public video statement on Wednesday, speaking of recent significant blows dealt to the Iranian proxies.
Netanyahu spoke of Israel’s recent targeting of Iran-backed Houthis, and a strike against a key Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, who was killed on Tuesday in southern Beirut, Lebanon.
The prime minister made no mention of the deadly strike on Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, for which Israel has not taken responsibility.
While nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on Haniyeh in Tehran, Israel was quickly blamed after pledging to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish State.
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Netanyahu said significant blows were dealt to Iranian proxies, though did not mention the deadly strike on Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, for which Israel has not taken responsibility. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said it is “Iran’s duty to avenge Haniyeh’s blood because he was martyred on our soil.”
Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas political leader, was killed in a strike in Tehran on Wednesday. (Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency/Reuters, File)
Iran’s embassy in the United Kingdom called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council following the assassination of Haniyeh.
The death of Haniyeh has raised alarms over the possibility of a wider regional war amid efforts to defuse escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to avenge Haniyeh. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could not confirm if Israel was behind the strike nor if military intelligence had warned it would happen.
“I don’t have anything for you on that. And we certainly have heard the reporting, but I don’t have any additional information,” Austin told reporters in Subic Bay, Philippines. He added the U.S. government would seek to ease tensions but that it would come to Israel’s defense if the Jewish State is attacked.
Netanyahu said in his address that Israel will remain prepared for all scenarios, though the possibility of reaching a cease-fire deal is not off the table despite recent events.
Fox News’ Yonat Friling and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
