Israel-Iran conflict latest: Iran in diplomatic push to limit Israel’s retaliation


Israel-Iran conflict latest: Iran in diplomatic push to limit Israel’s retaliation

12 October 2024 • 4:10pm Iran is making a diplomatic push to limit Israel’s retaliation to its missile strike earlier this month, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Tehran’s government is said to be “extremely nervous” and engaging in urgent diplomatic efforts with Middle Eastern countries to see whether they can reduce the scale of Israel’s response. Its anxiety stems from uncertainty about whether the US can convince Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites and oil facilities, and the fact that its most important proxy militia in the region, Hezbollah, has been significantly weakened in recent weeks, the source said. Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran’s missile attack on Oct 1, launched itself in retaliation for Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza and the killing of a Hamas leader in Iran. Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, vowed this week that his country’s response would be “deadly, precise and surprising”. Lebanon says nine dead in Israeli strikes on two villages Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on two villages Saturday, one north of Beirut and another south of the capital, killed at least nine people. An “Israeli enemy strike on Maaysra”, a Shiite Islam majority village in a mostly Christian mountain area north of Beirut, killed “five people and wounded 14 others”, the ministry said in a statement, adding separately that “four people were killed and 14 others wounded” in an “Israeli enemy strike” on Barja in the Shouf district south of the capital. UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warn against ’catastrophic’ regional conflict A spokesperson for the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon on Saturday said he feared an Israeli escalation against Lebanese militants Hezbollah in the country’s south could soon spiral out of control. This risks “turning very soon into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone,” Unifil spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told Agence France-Presse, calling for a diplomatic solution.