Iran Slams Israeli Retaliatory Strikes On Lebanon, Gaza

This is the third consecutive year that the annual pro-Palestinian event – supposed to be held on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan – has been cancelled in the city.

The event, which takes its name from the Arabic-language name for Jerusalem, is usually held to express support for Palestinians and oppose Israel and Zionism. In Germany there have been repeated discussions about banning rallies to mark the day as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic chants are regularly heard during the events.

Critics of Quds Day argue that it is inherently antisemitic,with President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Josef Schuster saying in 2021 that “The Al-Quds march is dominated by anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel.” Urging its annulment altogether, he said, “The participants unscrupulously exploited the freedom of expression and assembly to spread their hatred. This must finally come to an end.”

Directed against Israel’s existence, Al-Quds Day was proclaimed by the founder of the Islamic Republic Ruhollah Khomeini on 7 August 1979. He called on Muslims worldwide to unite in solidarity against Israel and in support of the Palestinians, saying the "liberation" of Jerusalem was a religious duty to all Muslims.”

In Iran, Quds Day also features demonstrations against other countries that the regime deems as enemies, including the United States, the UK and Saudi Arabia.

Support for militant groups by the Islamic Republic certainly fuels occasional military clashes with Israel, but so far, media controlled by the IRGC and hardliners has limited itself to publishing news of the clashes with the usual rhetorical tint of Palestinians inflicting heavy losses on “the Zionist enemy.”

Even the most hardliner IRGC mouthpiece, Javan newspaper, had no lead story Friday morning about the military clashes which saw dozens of rockets fired from Hezbollah controlled territory in southern Lebanon into Israel on Thursday, while rockets continued to be fired across the Gaza border from Hamas, who in 2021 publicly thanked Tehran for a $70m donation of missiles. 

Instead, hardline media on Friday focused on the hijab issue, the regime facing ongoing challenges of enforcing the mandatory headscarf amidst mass rebellion. Media in Iran carried more reports about how insidious women who remove their veils are, rather than coverage of Israeli-Palestinian clashes.

Although the IRGC top brass might start taking credit for their support for the “resistance front” once clashes die down, at this point they seem to prefer to stay on the sidelines rather than further implicate the Islamic Republic in Palestinian actions, however clear that influence is.

However, there have been some discreet nods to the attacks such as public statements made supporting the Palestinian cause.

Press TV -- an official regime channel -- also continued to show support for the cause in a discreet celebration of the barrage of dozens of rockets fired into Israel on Thursday.

This could not have happened without Hezbollah’s approval -- Iran’s most powerful proxy controlling the entire area. It is unlikely that Tehran was unaware of the attack, and very likely it had approved such a move.

The military flare up coincided with an important meeting between the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers in Beijing, where they agreed on the process to re-establish diplomatic relations after seven years of bitter animosity. Analysts assume that Saudi Arabia expects Iran to behave differently in the region, especially in propping up militant groups.

The only visible action by Tehran was a call by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday for convening a meeting of the Organization Of Islamic Cooperation to discuss Israel’s latest “assault” on Al-Aqsa Mosque and its “desecration.”

But the question which remains unanswered is what the purpose of a visit by two Iranian foreign policy figures was to Syria and Lebanon in late March. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s foreign policy advisor Kamal Kharrazi and former nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi visited Damascus and Beirut during Iran’s Nowruz holidays, with no statements made about the purpose of the diplomatic visit. 

Kharrazi only commented that it was a “successful mission”, but it is unlikely the representatives of Khamenei were there merely as a courtesy call. Did they carry a message from the Supreme Leader? What was the message that could not have been delivered through routine channels to Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah? It is also no coincidence that on the eve of the attacks from Lebanon on Thursday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Beirut to meet with Nasrallah.

At the end of March, IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif called on Palestinians to take advantage of ongoing protests in Israel against proposed legal reforms under the right-wing government, to destabilize the country. On March 28, Sharif said “this is a golden opportunity for the Palestinian fighters to take advantage of the situation,” telling local media that Jerusalem’s “liberation” is near, “thanks to the Palestinian struggle.” He called Khamenei “the flag bearer” of the fight against Israel.”

For now, Israel is not taking the bait. Refusing to attribute blame for the barrage on Hezbollah, it prefers to focus on Hamas, which has so far managed to create chaos on three fronts, Al Aqsa, Gaza’s border and now, the Lebanese border. The Israelis have vowed a strong response, but are as yet keeping their cards close to their chest before playing into the hands of Iran and Hezbollah.

According to the sources, the attacks on March 30 and 31 hit intelligence centers operated by Iran and Lebanese militant outfit Hezbollah in cooperation with the Syrian government forces in the al-Mazzah municipal district in the capital Damascus and the attack on April 4 targeted Al-Qusayr airport near the Lebanese border.

Vowing revenge, the Islamic Republic has admitted that two IRGC “military advisors” -- namely Meqdad Meqdani (Meghdad Meghdani) and Milad Haydari – were killed in the late March attacks. According to the sources, the attacks seemed to be Israel's response to a foiled terrorist attack a week ago in the Megiddo area inside Israel by a person who, according to Israel, was sent by Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The sources added that both Meqdani and Haydari were IRGC intelligence officers in Syria, noting that a group of senior members of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, including former head of the body Hossein Taeb, visited the bereaved families of the two “martyrs” in the past few days.

Iran usually does not report the extent of its casualties in Syria and some observers say that acknowledging the deaths of two IRGC personnel can mean that Tehran wanted to lay the ground for retaliation. Iran International sources are of the opinion that the IRGC forces are planning an imminent attack inside Israel with the help of Hezbollah forces.

On Thursday, dozens of rockets were fired into Israeli territory from Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon, where several displacement camps hosting Palestinian refugees and armed factions are located.

According to Israeli-based news channel i24NEWS, Hezbollah has told Lebanese media that Palestinian groups were behind the rocket attacks.

Three security sources also told Reuters that Palestinian factions based in Lebanon were behind the rocket attacks on Thursday afternoon across the disputed border into Israel.

The Israeli military is still assessing the situation following Thursday's rocket strikes from Lebanon but is working on the assumption that Palestinian factions were behind the attacks, a defense official said. The Israeli military said 34 rockets were launched from Lebanon on Thursday, of which 25 were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system.

In response to the volley of rockets fired from Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to hit back hard, saying "As for the aggression aimed at us from other fronts - we will hit our enemies and they will pay a price for every act of aggression." Hours after his threat, powerful Israeli airstrikes rocked Gaza strip after midnight on Friday.

Iran has considerable drone capabilities that it has used against US bases in Syria as recently as last month, killing a US contractor and injuring at least eight US servicemen.

Tensions rose in Syria when on March 23 Iranian backed forces attacked a US base with a drone, inflicting casualties. The US responded with an air strike, which was followed by more attacks on US forces. The tit-for-tat strikes stopped after two days, but Iran has targeted US forces in Iraq and Syria 80 times since early 2021 when the Biden administration assumed office.

Israel has been regularly attacking targets in Syria since 2017 to weaken Iran's attempts to strengthen its military presence in the war-torn country and build up a threat on Israel's northern borders.

According to the Interior Ministry, State Security Service and Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan, the group is charged with trying to overthrow the government.

They claim the members of the group were recruited by Iranian special services. According to local media, the detainees, calling themselves “believers”, carried out pro-regime propaganda and religious radicalism through social networks.

The latest news reflects growing tensions between Baku and Tehran. Earlier in the week, Baku announced it had arrested four people in connection with the attempted assassination of a lawmaker who was shot and wounded last week.

Fazil Mustafa, a lawmaker who had been strongly critical of Azerbaijan's neighbor Iran, has been recovering in hospital after what the state security service described as a terror attack.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, which has a large population of ethnic Azeris in its northwest, have been strained in recent months after Baku announced plans to open an embassy in Israel. Though Israel has had an embassy in Baku since the 1990s, it was a show of deepening ties for Baku to open an embassy in the Jewish state.

Iranian officials have accused Azerbaijan of allowing Israel to set up intelligence and military bases on its territory as an operational base against Iran, a claim Baku denies.

Meanwhile, in January, Azerbaijan closed its embassy in Tehran after what it called a "terrorist attack" that killed the embassy's head of security.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said so far, 34 rockets had been fired into Israel, 25 of which intercepted, with five landing in Israeli territory.

Though Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, the onslaught follows growing tensions with Iran.

An IDF spokesperson told reporters in late afternoon, that Israeli leaders will look into Hezbollah's involvement, although at this point the attacks appear to have been launched by Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The spokesperson also said that Israel is "checking Iranian involvement."

He said: "Hezbollah probably knew about the attack as it was in south Lebanon, and Lebanon has a responsibility. We are looking into Iranian involvement."

The statement probably point to Israeli reluctance to blame Hezbollah outright, since that would mean pressure to retaliate against the well-armed, Iran-backed group and a wider war on two fronts for Israel.

In 2023, Israel has launched at least ten attacks on Iranian facilities and infrastructure in Iran, including killing major figures in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Council.

Israel's Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, warned the perpetrators "not to test Israel" as the rockets rained down on Thursday, warning of a harsh response.

Iran's Press TV, the voice of the regime, tried to distance its largest proxy from the rocket exchange, attributing it to "Palestinian factions, not Hezbollah", stating it was "retaliatory attacks from Lebanon on Israel following the Israeli regime's forces' aggression on al-Aqsa Mosque".

Tensions in Israel have mounted over the last two days as Hamas members barricaded themselves into the holy Al Aqsa mosque, leading to violent confrontations with Israel Police.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was in Beirut meeting with counterparts at Hezbollah just hours before the strikes were launched from Hezbollah controlled territory, suggesting a coordinated effort by the militia groups which deem Israel at its weakest point in years.

Israel has been bitterly divided by internal political debate over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposed reforms, which have seen three months of mass protest. In echoes of the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the barrage also came at the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover, when most of the country is at home with families.

Netanyahu has called a meeting of his top security advisors for an emergency session to take place Thursday evening, as the situation escalates across the border with Gaza, under Hamas control, Lebanon and at the Al Aqsa mosque.

The UN’s peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, had been told to take cover in shelters as the two sides traded blows while residents in northern Israel are currently in shelters.

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