Terrorist group Hezbollah reportedly called on Iran to launch an attack on Israel after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a series of devastating assaults the organization in Lebanon, according to reports from Israeli officials.
Iran has refrained from intervening so far, citing concerns about the timing as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Axios reported.
Two Israeli officials told Axios that Hezbollah sought immediate action from the Iranian regime. But they were rebuffed as Tehran is choosing to exercise caution for the time being.
Why it matters: A direct Iranian attack against Israel would dramatically destabilize the region even further and likely draw the U.S. into more active fighting.
- Two Israeli officials said Iranian officials told their Hezbollah counterparts that “the timing isn’t right” for launching an attack against Israel because the Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly.
- In a briefing with reporters on Monday in New York, Pezeshkian said Israel is the party seeking a wider war in the region and stressed that Iran doesn’t want to fall into this “trap.”
- A senior Israeli official said the security cabinet directive to Israel Defense Forces is to avoid steps that would give Iran a reason or a pretext to join the fighting.
The current military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah marks the most intense fighting in the region since the 2006 war. Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed hundreds of terrorists. Hezbollah continues to fire rockets and drones into northern Israel.
The terrorist group has lost a significant number of top commanders and a sizeable portion of its missile arsenal in recent days.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Lebanon has become more precarious as the conflict escalates. Thousands have fled the region to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, The Associated Press reported.
Israel on Tuesday claimed responsibility for killing Ibrahim Kobeisi, a top Hezbollah commander, in an airstrike on Beirut. An Israeli military official told The Associated Press that Kobeisi was “responsible for launches towards Israel and planned a 2000 attack in the Mount Dov region in which three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and killed,” ABC News reported.
As the exchange of fire continues, Israel is preparing for a possible ground invasion, which would mean the Jewish state would be fighting a two-front war as it continues efforts to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Criticisms of Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah have grown on the international stage. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan compared Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, a comment Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called “shameful” and “beyond imagination,” according to CNN. “We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere, but we are determined to protect the civilians of Israel,” Danon insisted.
As we reported on Friday, Israel carried out the airstrikes because Hezbollah was planning an “October 7-like” attack on Israel. This assault would have been similar to the surprise attack Hamas launched against Israel in 2023, in which they murdered Israeli civilians and took hundreds of hostages, many of whom are still being held in Gaza.