Iran’s foreign minister warned Israel on Friday that if it carries out an attack on Iran, Tehran will retaliate in a harsh way.
Abbas Araghchi was in Beirut for meetings with Lebanese officials. His visit came three days after Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks that threaten to push the Middle East closer to a region-wide war.
“If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Araghchi said after meeting Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out a series of massive airstrikes overnight in southern suburbs of Beirut and another that cut off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, a main crossing point for tens of thousands of people fleeing Israeli bombardment.
The blasts in the Beirut suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings km (miles) away in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on what the intended target was, and there was no information immediately available on casualties. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area.
The Israeli military said Friday that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah’s communications division. The military said in a statement that Skafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.