Netanyahu Declares Israel on High Alert After Top Hamas, Hezbollah Leaders Killed
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2 August 2024 08:52 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late Thursday, August 1, that Israel is prepared to confront any aggression following threats of retaliation for the killings of top Hamas and Hezbollah figures that the Jewish state blamed on Iran.
“Israel is at a very high level of preparation for any scenario, both defensive and offensive. We will make any act of aggression against us pay a very high price,” Netanyahu said in a statement as quoted from Al Arabiya.
“Those who attack us, we will attack in return,” he remarked.
He made the comments as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned of a definitive response to Israel's killing of its top military commander, Fuad Shukr, in a strike on a Beirut suburb on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, an attack blamed on Israel by Iran and Hamas.
“You do not know what red lines you crossed,” Nasrallah declared in a televised speech at Shukr's funeral. “The enemy, and those who are behind the enemy, must await our inevitable response.”
Hezbollah's Nasrallah reaffirmed his group's commitment to retaliating against Israel for the killing of its top commander.
Israel has not commented on Haniyeh's killing but confirmed the ‘elimination’ of Shukr, describing him as Hezbollah's most senior military commander and Nasrallah's right-hand man. Shukr, known by the alias Hajj Mohsen, oversaw operations in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has established a ‘support front’ engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire with Israel since the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group.
“We, on all the support fronts, have entered a new phase,” Nasrallah declared, referring to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups fighting in support of Hamas against Israel.
SITA PLANASARI
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