Israel hit Iran hard, according to Netanyahu, but Khamenei says the damage shouldn’t be exaggerated.

Given the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, a direct conflict between Israel and Iran runs the risk of degenerating into a regional conflict. However, there was no indication that the airstrikes would lead to another round of escalation a day after they occurred.

But Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been engaged in fierce combat in Lebanon for weeks, and on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike killed eight people in a Sidon residential block, according to medical officials.

“The air force launched attacks across Iran. In a speech, Netanyahu described the attack as “precise and powerful” and claimed it achieved all of its goals. “We hit hard Iran’s defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us,” he said.

Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the head of Israel’s army, claimed that the attack on Iran had demonstrated how the country would react to its adversaries. “We hit strategically important systems in Iran, and we’ll see how things work out from here. In every arena, we are ready for any situation.

The Islamic Republic has not indicated how it will react to the expected strikes on Saturday, which included numerous fighter jets bombing in the western provinces of Khuzestan and Ilam as well as close to the capital Tehran.

According to diplomats, the U.N. Security Council is expected to meet on Monday to discuss the attack.

For months, the heavily armed arch-enemies have been waging a cycle of retaliatory attacks against one another. The strike on Saturday follows an October 1 Iranian missile barrage, the majority of which Israel claimed was destroyed by its air defenses.

It “should be disrupted” Israel’s calculations, Khamenei said. He stated that the attack on Iran “should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated” despite the fact that it killed four soldiers and caused some damage.

Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, stated that his country would respond “appropriately” but was not seeking war.

Fears of a wider Middle East war resulting from the year-old Israeli-Hamas conflict have increased since U.S. President Joe Biden called for an end to escalation.

U.S. President Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation, which has raised fears of a wider Middle East war arising from the year-old Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Israel’s thrust into south Lebanon to stop Hezbollah rocketing northern Israel.
Separately, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Iran was no longer able to use its allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel. The two groups “are no longer an effective tool” of Tehran, he said in a speech.
 
Gallant added that Hamas was no longer functioning as a military network in Gaza and that Hezbollah’s senior command and most of its missile capabilities had been eliminated.
Hamas has repeatedly said it is still able to function militarily, and Israel has recently conducted major new operations in devastated north Gaza against what it calls regrouping Hamas militants.
Hezbollah has said its command structure remains intact and that it retains significant missile capabilities. LEBANON FIGHTING
 
On Sunday, the Israeli military urged residents of 14 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately and move north of the Awali river.
An Israeli strike on Sidon, a city in coastal south Lebanon, killed at nine people and wounded 25 on Sunday, the country’s health ministry said.
Elsewhere in the south, a strike on Zawtar al-Sharkiya killed three people and a Saturday bombing of Marjayoun killed five, it said.