Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu reaffirmed today that Israel will retaliate against Iran for the recent missile strike earlier this week, emphasizing Israel’s responsibility to respond.
Speaking from Tel Aviv’s Kirya military base, Netanyahu declared: “No country in the world would accept such an attack on its cities and citizens, and Israel won’t either. Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks — and it will do so.”
The missile barrage on Tuesday, consisting of approximately 180 ballistic missiles, caused some damage in Israel, including at airbases. However, the military confirmed that no aircraft or critical infrastructure were hit, and the Israeli Air Force remains fully operational.
Many of the incoming missiles were intercepted by air defense systems, or they landed in unpopulated areas. Despite this, the attack forced 10 million Israelis to seek shelter and caused damage to civilian buildings, including a school.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated earlier in the day that the upcoming response would be “serious and significant.”
This missile offensive from Iran, the second of its kind this year, occurred amidst Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran justified its missile launch by pointing to the Israeli airstrikes that killed senior figures in Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Among those mentioned were Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard General Abbas Nilforoushan, both of whom were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut last week. The missile attacks were also linked to the assassination of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, an operation widely attributed to Israel.
Netanyahu also addressed the conflict in Lebanon, stating that Israel is shifting “the balance of power in the north.”
As Israel approaches the one-year mark of the war, which began on October 7 when Hamas launched a devastating attack, Netanyahu noted that the Israeli military is also facing Hezbollah in the north. Hezbollah initiated attacks the day after the Hamas assault, and in response, Israel has shifted significant military resources to the northern front. Continuous rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah have displaced over 60,000 people from their homes.
“About a month ago, as we moved toward the end of the destruction of Hamas battalions in Gaza, we started fulfilling the promise I gave to the residents of the north,” said Netanyahu, referring to his pledge to allow displaced residents to return home.
“We eliminated [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and the Hezbollah leadership, we eliminated the commanders of the Radwan Force who planned to invade the Galilee and carry out a greater and more terrible massacre of our citizens than that of October 7,” Netanyahu said, citing Israel’s recent military victories against Hezbollah.
He further claimed that Israel has wiped out a substantial portion of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket arsenal. “And right now our heroic soldiers are destroying the array of terror tunnels that Hezbollah secretly prepared, close to our borders,” Netanyahu said, while stressing that “although we have not yet completed the removal of the threat, we have clearly changed the course of the war and the balance of the war — and we’re not done yet.”
The prime minister also ridiculed the late Hezbollah leader for his infamous comment, likening Israeli society to a “spider’s web.”
“He and the whole world discovered the iron sinews of Israel — a strong country with a strong, daring and moral army,” Netanyahu said. “A country determined to defend itself against any threat.”
Netanyahu concluded by highlighting Iran’s role in orchestrating attacks against Israel: “That includes the threat from Iran, which is behind all the attacks on us — from Gaza, from Lebanon, from Yemen, from Iraq and Syria — and of course, from Iran itself.”
{Matzav.com Israel}