Tensions soar in Middle East as Israel vows to retaliate against Iran

Rejecting allied calls for restraint, Israel has vowed to respond to Iran’s massive air assault despite Tehran’s warning that it will unleash a “massive and harsh” retaliation to even a “tiniest” invasion by Tel Aviv.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will decide whether and how to avenge Iran’s offensive this week that followed an aerial bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria.

Israel’s threat

Netanyahu’s comments came during a meeting with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron who urged Tel Aviv not to go on the offensive against Iran.

After meeting Netanyahu, Cameron said “it's clear the Israelis are making a decision to act” against Iran and hoped it will do so “in a way that is smart as well as tough” without destabilizing the region.

The Israeli threat has left the region bracing for further escalation after months of fighting in Gaza that has killed more than 33,000 people since a Hamas attack on Israel in October killed hundreds.

Iran’s warning

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi warned Israel against any retaliation as he addressed an annual army parade, which was moved from its usual route and not broadcast live on state TV — possibly to avoid being targeted.

Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Raisi as saying that the weekend attack on Israel was a limited one and that if Iran had wanted to carry out a bigger assault, “nothing would remain (with) the Zionist regime”.

Israel and Iran have waged a long shadow war, but the strike was Iran's first direct military attack on Israel.

UN worries

Israel, which, with its partners, intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones, has said the air force was preparing for future attacks from Iran.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also called for “maximum restraint” between Israel and Iran. He said the region “cannot afford another open conflict”.

In the United Nations, the US and 47 other countries unequivocally condemned attacks on Israel by Iran “and its militant partners” in Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza.

Palestinian state

The Wednesday night statement calls their “dangerous and destabilizing actions” an escalation “that poses a grave threat to international peace and security”.

At the same time, the UN Security Council was scheduled to vote this week on a resolution that would give a green light for a Palestinian state to join the world body as a full member, a move opposed by the US.

The US, Israel's closest ally, has promised to veto any resolution endorsing Palestinian membership saying the issue should be discussed between Israel and the Palestinians.

Qatar’s concerns

Meanwhile, Qatar has said it was re-evaluating its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, which still holds over 130 Israelis it abducted on October 7.

Without naming any side, prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani said there had been an “abuse” of Qatar's mediation for “narrow political interests”.

UNRWA complains

In other developments, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees called UNRWA, has accused Israel of trying to end its operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Hezbollah attack

A drone and rocket attack by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on a border town in Israel's north on Wednesday wounded 14 soldiers.

Gaza trouble

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it arrested and killed militants in an operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun over the past week.

It said it targeted two facilities used as schools after intelligence pointed to militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Settler violence

Human Rights Watch has alleged that Israeli forces either took part in or failed to stop fresh settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Settlers launched another wave of attacks late last week after a 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed in what Israeli authorities say was a militant attack.