Netanyahu: Israel has duty and right to hit back at Iran for missile attack, will do so
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday repeated his promise to strike back against Iran for its ballistic missile attack earlier in the week, saying Israel has an obligation to retaliate and will do so.
Speaking from the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said: “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.”
The attack of some 180 ballistic missiles launched Tuesday caused some damage in Israel, including in Israeli airbases. The military has said that no aircraft or critical infrastructure were hit, and the Israeli Air Force is operating at full capacity.
Most of the incoming missiles were either intercepted by air defenses or landed in open areas. However, the attack sent 10 million Israelis rushing for cover and caused damage to civilian structures as well, including a school.
The Israel Defense Forces said earlier Saturday the response would be “serious and significant.”
Iran’s rocket barrage, the second such attack this year, came amid the war against terror groups Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran said it fired the missiles into Israel in response to attacks that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. It referenced Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan, both killed in an Israeli airstrike last week in Beirut. It also mentioned Ismail Haniyeh, the former leader of Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran in July in an attack widely attributed to Israel.
Most of Netanyahu’s other remarks focused on the fighting in Lebanon, where he said Israel was changing “the balance of power in the north.”
Nearly a year into a war that began on October 7, when Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel, the military is also battling Iran-backed Hezbollah which began attacking Israel’s north the day after the Hamas assault. Over the past few weeks, Israel has moved its military focus to the north, where near-daily rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah since October have forced over 60,000 people to leave their homes
“About a month ago, as we moved toward the end of the destruction of Hamas battalions in Gaza, we started fulfilling the promise I gave to the residents of the north,” said the premier, referring to his pledge to return them to their homes.
“We eliminated [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and the Hezbollah leadership, we eliminated the commanders of the Radwan Force who planned to invade the Galilee and carry out a greater and more terrible massacre of our citizens than that of October 7,” Netanyahu said, referring to a series of successes Israel has scored against the group.
Netanyahu asserted that Israel has destroyed “a large part” of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpile. “And right now our heroic soldiers are destroying the array of terror tunnels that Hezbollah secretly prepared, close to our borders,” he said, adding that “although we have not yet completed the removal of the threat, we have clearly changed the course of the war and the balance of the war — and we’re not done yet.”
Netanyahu mocked the late Hezbollah leader for calling Israeli society a “spider’s web” in a famous speech years ago.
“He and the whole world discovered the iron sinews of Israel — a strong country with a strong, daring and moral army,” he said. “A country determined to defend itself against any threat.”
