Following Israeli airstrikes that killed at least four troops and heightened worries of a full-scale conflict in the Middle East, Iran issued a warning on Saturday that it would defend itself.
The United States, Germany, and Britain urged Tehran to refrain from intensifying the confrontation further after Israel threatened to “pay a heavy price” if Iran retaliated to the strikes.
Following the Israeli strikes that occurred before morning, US President Joe Biden expressed his hope that “this is the end” and stated that “it looks like they didn’t hit anything other than military targets.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that no nuclear installations were struck in the retaliatory strikes, which Biden had urged Israel to avoid hitting oil and nuclear facilities.
The European Union called for all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an “uncontrollable escalation”.
Russia and other nations, including several of Iran’s neighbours, called for all parties to exercise prudence and steer clear of what Moscow called a “catastrophic scenario” in response to Israel’s strikes.
Iran maintained that it has the “right and the duty” to protect itself, while Hezbollah, its partner in Lebanon, claimed to have already fired missile salvos into five northern Israeli residential districts.
Eighty rockets were thrown across the border on Saturday, according to the Israeli army.
Later, the Israeli army issued identical warnings for two neighbourhoods in southern Beirut, while Hezbollah issued evacuation orders for over a dozen specific places in Israel.
Israel conducted a new operation in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to an early Sunday report from Lebanon’s official National News Agency.
