100,000 Hezbollah missiles stand at the ready to strike Israel in the event of any provocations against Lebanon and Hezbollah, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami has warned.
“In Lebanon, tens of thousands, even more than one hundred thousand missiles are ready to be fired to create a hell for the Zionists at the moment of making the divine predestination happen,” Salami said in a speech in Tehran on Thursday, using the term commonly used by Iranian officials to refer to Israel. In Shia Muslim faith, ‘divine predestination’ refers to events Allah knows will take place, but does not necessarily control.
Warning Tel Aviv that “Hezbollah youth have their fingers on triggers,” Salami stressed that the Lebanese militant group would bring Israel to its knees in the event of any crisis, and that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is “standing against the Zionists” with “determination.”
“It is enough for the Zionist regime to make a mistake, an operation in Holy Quds would be enough,” Salami said, referring to Jerusalem, where tensions between Israeli authorities and Palestinians remain razor thin and occasionally flare into violence.
The IRGC commander’s firebrand comments come against the backdrop of a major escalation in Gaza, where the Israeli military launched ‘Operation Breaking Dawn’ targeting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on Friday. The militant group confirmed Friday evening that its leader Taisir Jabari was killed in the strikes.
The Israeli military said it launched Friday’s “preemptive attack” “in response” to threats purportedly emanating from the Gaza-based militant group to the Jewish State’s security. The IDF estimated that its strikes had killed “about 15” enemy combatants, and that the operation was not over yet. Health Ministry officials in Gaza have reported one person killed and 15 injured in the attacks.
PIJ responded by telling Israel to prepare for retaliation, and warning that “Tel Aviv will be among the targets.”
Israel has activated its Iron Dome air defense system, with bomb shelters opened in the country’s south, and Ben Gurion International Airport redirecting air traffic. Tel Aviv has reportedly warned Hamas to stay out of the conflict via communications through Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
The Israeli strikes followed days of escalating tensions over the arrest of Bassam al-Saadi, a senior Islamic Jihad member in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday. They also come several months out from the upcoming 2022 Israeli legislative elections in November.
The last major flare-up in the Palestinian-Israeli crisis occurred in May 2021, when the Israeli military launched an assault on the Gaza Strip and Hamas and PIJ fired thousands of rockets into southern Israel after tensions boiled over in East Jerusalem over a court ruling ordering the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes, and the Israeli police storming of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, one of Islam’s holiest sites. About a dozen Israelis and at least 230 Palestinians were killed in the May 2021 conflict, with over 3,000 Palestinians and about 100 Israelis receiving injuries.