U.S. warns Iran as missiles hit northern Israel

FPI / September 2, 2019

Hamas and the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad were quick to praise Hizbullah’s Sept. 1 attack on northern Israel as the United States warned Iran and its terror organization against further “hostile actions.”

Hizbullah terrorists operating out of southern Lebanon fired multiple anti-tank missiles at Israeli positions and vehicles near the town of Avivim, according to a report by Arutz Sheva.

Israel's army said it responded with around 100 artillery shells after Hizbullah anti-tank missiles at a battalion headquarters and military ambulance.

Hizbullah claimed that the crew of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank was killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that no Israelis were killed or injured in the attack. “We have no casualties,” said Netanyahu at a press conference. “No one was injured – not even a scratch.”

Following the attack by Hizbullah, the Hamas terrorist organization released a statement in which it said that Israeli strikes should be stopped on all fronts from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and all the way to "Palestine."

Hamas stressed the right of Hizbullah and all the resistance organizations to respond to "aggression" on the part of Israel and “to create an equation of deterrence with it,” the Arutz Sheva report said.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh praised Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who confirmed Iran's willingness to provide terror organizations with what they need to continue fighting.

The Assad government in Syria also threw its support behind Hizbullah, whose fighters have been fighting on Assad's side in Syria's civil war since 2013.

"The Syrian Arab Republic expresses its pride at the... operation that the Lebanese national resistance carried out against the military patrol of the Zionist occupier," a source at the ministry of foreign affairs told state news agency SANA.

"Syria repeats that it stands fully by the Lebanese national resistance and its legitimate right — side by side with the Lebanese army — to work towards preserving the sovereignty of Lebanon," the source said.

The United States slammed the "destabilizing role" of Iranian terror proxies in the Middle East following Hizbullah’s attack on Israel.

A State Department official quoted by AFP said the U.S. "supports Israel's right to self-defense. Hizbullah should refrain from hostile actions which threaten Lebanon's security, stability and sovereignty."

U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt blamed Iran for the attack.

“Missiles fired from Lebanon into Israel. Iran has proxies in Lebanon and Gaza that harm Israel, undermine chances for peace and threaten a better future for Palestinians,” Greenblatt tweeted. “The U.S. stands with Israel and fully supports its right to defend itself against all attacks.”

Free Press International