Airstrikes carried out within 12 hours of each other by Israeli military in Beirut, Lebanon and Tehran, Iran, have reportedly killed two high-ranking officials in both countries.
The airstrike in a Beirut suburb Monday took out Fuad Shukr (a.k.a. Hajj Mohsen), a top Hezbollah commander, as well as 4 civilians, including two children, and injured 80 others.
Another strike on his residence in Tehran, early Tuesday, took out Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, after he attended the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Three of Haniyeh's sons -- Hazem, Amir and Mohammad -- were killed on April 10 when an Israeli air strike struck the car they were driving, Hamas said. Haniyeh also lost four of his grandchildren, three girls and a boy, in the attack.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has authorized strikes on Israel in response to Haniyeh’s assassination, stating that Israel had provided grounds for “harsh punishment” and it was Tehran’s duty to avenge Haniyeh’s death. Hamas has vowed to retaliate against Israel for Haniyeh’s killing.
US officials have said they're not involved or consulted in the Israeli attacks, as fears of escalation grow.
Although the strike on Haniyeh was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no comment on the killing.
Netanyahu made no mention of Haniyeh's killing in a televised statement on Wednesday evening but said Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran's proxies of late, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and would respond forcefully to any attack.
"We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined against any threat. Israel will exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena," he said.
The latest events appear to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in the nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas.
America has advised its citizens not to travel to Lebanon, and two U.S. airlines, United and Delta, paused flights to Tel Aviv.
