The world is bracing for an Israeli attack against Iran which could spiral into a full-blown war between the countries that could further destabilise the Middle East
Iran has grounded all flights from its airports prompting fears of a fresh attack against Israel.
Iranian officials cancelled flights from all of its airports from 9pm tonight to 6am on Monday morning, according to the country’s media. The flights are believed to have been cancelled due to operational restrictions, an Iranian spokesperson told state media, without providing any more details. Iran previously restricted flights on Tuesday when it launched missiles at Israel.
It comes after numerous countries in the Middle East closed their air space after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. Iran said the missile attack was in retaliation for numerous Israeli strikes that resulted in the deaths of its officials and leaders in Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation in southern Lebanon that is supported by Tehran.
Israel has threatened to carry out an attack against Iran and the world is braced for whether such a strike would further raise tensions between the two countries into a full-blown war. The US and Western nations have cautioned Israel against escalating the conflict further amid concerns it could destabilise the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country had a right to attack Iran and argued no country would tolerate missiles being fired against it. He said on Saturday: “No country in the world would accept such an attack on its cities and citizens, and Israel won’t either.
“Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks — and it will do so.”
His comments come as Israel engages Hezbollah in a ground offensive in Lebanon that is aimed at capitulating the terrorist organisation, which is not affiliated with the Lebanese government. But the capital Beirut has also come under sustained attack and has come under its worst night of intense bombing since Israel’s attack against Hezbollah.
It is believed that several of the strikes may have set off a Hezbollah ammunition cache that Israel believed would have posed a threat to the Jewish-majority state. It also struck a warehouse for medical supplies as well as a petrol station on the main highway leading to Beirut airport.
Critics of Israel believe the country’s military has not been careful enough to avoid civilian casualties in the conflict as well as its ongoing onslaught in Gaza where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed. Israel has defended its strikes, claiming they have been necessary to destroy both Hamas, a terrorist organisation in control of Gaza, as well as Hezbollah.
