New airstrikes in the Gaza Strip - Fear of escalation in the Middle East
According to a correspondent for the AFP news agency, there were particularly heavy air strikes and artillery fire in the town of Chan Junis in the south of the Palestinian territory on Thursday night. For its part, the Israeli army said it had carried out attacks on a Hamas weapons depot in Khan Yunis as well as attacks against "terrorists" who wanted to plant explosives near soldiers. Meanwhile, alarm sirens sounded on Thursday in Ashkelon in southern Israel, warning of rocket fire from Hamas.
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters attacked Israel in an unprecedented attack. Around 1140 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has been attacking targets in the Gaza Strip in a massive military campaign and has killed more than 22,400 people, according to new figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified.
Since then, tensions with other countries in the Middle East have also intensified. In the hope of easing the situation, US Secretary of State Blinken wanted to embark on his fourth trip to the Middle East on Thursday evening and, according to government sources, visit Israel, among other countries. The US chief diplomat had also visited several Arab countries on his trips in recent weeks.
Before Blinken's new trip to the Middle East was announced, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller had stated that no country had an "interest in escalation" in the region. Miller also countered statements from Tehran that the USA could be involved in an attack in the southern Iranian city of Kerman. "Any suggestion" of US involvement was "ridiculous". His government also had "no reason to believe" that Israel had anything to do with the incident, Miller said.
On Wednesday, at least 84 people died in the bomb attack in Kerman near the grave of General Kassem Soleimani, who was killed by the USA in 2020, according to the latest information from state media. A further 284 were injured, the state news agency Irna quoted the head of Iran's emergency services as saying. On Wednesday, on the fourth anniversary of Soleimani's death, numerous people gathered at the site where his grave is located. The leadership in Tehran spoke of a "terrorist act".
Iranian presidential advisor Mohammad Jamshidi blamed Israel and the USA for the attack. The "responsibility for this crime" lies "with the USA and the Zionist regime and terrorism is only a tool", wrote Jamshidi on the online service X, formerly Twitter. The Iranian government declared Thursday "a day of public mourning throughout the country" in light of the attack.
Tensions with Israel's northern neighbor Lebanon had already intensified beforehand. On Tuesday, the deputy head of Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri, was killed in a drone attack in a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, which was widely attributed to Israel. A US official in Washington also stated that al-Aruri's death was due to an Israeli attack.
The Hamas-allied Hezbollah in Lebanon, which in turn is supported by Iran, threatened to retaliate for the killing of al-Aruri. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel of a war against Lebanon, which his militia would then wage "without rules, without borders". Israel did not comment on the accusations.
Since the start of the conflict, the situation in Syria and Iraq has also worsened, with US military bases becoming the target of attacks. In addition, the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen are repeatedly attacking cargo ships and claim to be doing so in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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- The intense air attack in Chan Junis, Lebanon, last night was met with fear in southern Israel, as Ashkelon received sirens warning of rocket fire from Hamas.
- The USA was involved in an air attack that led to the death of General Kassem Soleimani in 2020, an event that has since sparked tension in the Middle East.
- Hundreds of Hamas fighters attacked Israel in a significant event on October 7, resulting in numerous casualties in the Gaza Strip.
- Israel has been conducting a massive military campaign against targets in the Gaza Strip following the unprecedented attack by Hamas.
- US Secretary of State Tony Blinken planned to visit Israel and other Middle Eastern countries to help ease tensions, as stated by government sources before his trip.
- Matthew Miller, a US State Department spokesman, rejected any claims of US involvement in an attack in Kerman, Iran, and insisted there was no reason to believe Israel was involved.
- Approximately 84 people were killed and 284 injured in a bomb attack in Kerman, according to state media, on the fourth anniversary of Soleimani's death.
- The Hamas-allied Hezbollah in Lebanon threatened to retaliate for the killing of Saleh al-Aruri, a senior Hamas leader, which was widely attributed to Israel.
- The pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen have been targeting cargo ships in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, leading to increased tensions in the region.
- US military bases in Syria and Iraq have also become targets of attacks, contributing to the overall unrest in the Middle East.
- Mohammad Jamshidi, an Iranian presidential advisor, pinned the blame for the Kerman attack on the USA and Israel, insisting that terrorism is only a tool in their hands.
Source: www.stern.de
