TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday it would respond firmly to any Israeli attack on its soil, stressing that it did not want a wider war in the region.
On Tuesday Iran launched around 200 missiles in its second direct attack on Israel, in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Tehran-aligned militant leaders in the region and a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Israel has vowed to respond to the attack.
Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said the Islamic republic was “not afraid of war and will give a firm and appropriate response to any new action by the Zionist regime.”
The foreign minister made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.
Israel’s army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Iran had fired about 200 missiles at Israel last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had made a “big mistake” with its missile barrage, which follows Israel killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
After the United States said it was discussing a joint response with Israel, Iran’s chief of staff warned that Tehran would hit Israeli infrastructure if its territory is attacked.
Iran says it will hit back against any Israeli strike
https://arab.news/8hffu
Iran says it will hit back against any Israeli strike
- After US said it was discussing a joint response with Israel, Iran’s chief of staff warned that Tehran would hit Israeli infrastructure if its territory is attacked
Western Libya forces kill notorious migrant smuggler, security agency says
- The Security Threats Combating Agency raided the group’s hideout in response to the attack and killed its leader, Ahmed Al-Dabbashi
- Dabbashi had been under US sanctions since 2018
BENGHAZI: Western Libyan security forces said on Friday they had killed a notorious migrant smuggler in the coastal city of Sabratha after “criminal gangs” affiliated with him attacked one of their checkpoints overnight.
The Security Threats Combating Agency, a security agency under western Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah, said they raided the group’s hideout in response to the attack and killed its leader, Ahmed Al-Dabbashi, also known as “Al-Amu.”
Dabbashi’s brother was arrested and six members of the force were wounded in the fighting, the agency said in the statement on its Facebook page.
Dabbashi had been under US sanctions since 2018. Washington described him as the “leader of one of two powerful migrant smuggling organizations” based in Sabratha and said he had “used his organization to rob and enslave migrants before allowing them to leave for Italy.”
Human trafficking is rife in Libya, which has been divided between rival armed factions since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The proliferation of smuggling gangs and the absence of a strong central authority have made the country one of the main staging points for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Dbeibah was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021, but significant parts of western Libya remain outside his control. Dbeibah’s Government of National Unity, or GNU, is not recognized by rival authorities in the east.
An armed alliance affiliated with an earlier UN-backed government in Tripoli – the Government of National Accord – had taken on Dabbashi’s forces in a three-week battle in 2017 that killed and wounded dozens and damaged residential areas and Sabratha’s Roman ruins.
