A day after Iran launched 200 missiles, including hypersonic weapons in retaliation to killing of Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah, Israel, which is battling Hamas in Gaza, is increasing its presence in south Lebanon, raising fears of a wider conflict amid ongoing tensions in Middle East.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the attack was in response to Israel's killing of Hezbollah chief, as well as the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing in July widely blamed on Israel.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had exercised its "legitimate rights" and dealt "a decisive response... to the Zionist regime's aggression".
Iran said the attack was over barring further provocation, but Israel and the United States promised to hit back.
After Iran's attack sent civilians into shelters, Israel vowed to make Iran ‘pay’ for firing a barrage of missiles at its territory. Israel has put the number of missiles fired at its territory at 180. Israel intercepted most of Iran's missiles, however, two people were injured by shrapnel.
Israel would face a harsh reaction if it did not stop 'its crimes', said Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian.
"If the Zionist regime (Israel) does not stop its crimes, it will face harsher reactions," Iran's Pezeshkian said while leaving for scheduled trip to Qatar
Reacting to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it. "Whoever attacks us, we attack them."
"Iran has not learned a simple lesson — those who attack the state of Israel, pay a heavy price," Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.
Naftali Bennett, the former Prime Minister of Israel, called for a decisive strike to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities.
"We must act now to destroy Iran's nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime," Bennett wrote on X just hours after the attack on Israel on Tuesday.
Bennett said that Israel has the justification as well as tools. "Now that Hezbollah and Hamas are paralysed, Iran stands exposed," he added.
Israeli soldiers made a brief incursion into the country's south, said Lebanon's army amid Iran's attack on Israel.
"Israeli enemy forces breached the Blue Line by approximately 400 metres (yards) into Lebanese territory" in two areas, "then withdrew a short time later", an army statement on X said, referring to the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it was clashing with Israeli troops in the border town of Maroun el-Ras after it had pushed back forces near another border town.
Those battles were only "the first round" and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel, reported Reuters quoting Hezbollah's Mohammad Afif.
At least 51 people, including women and children, were killed after Israel carried out airstrikes and launched ground operations in southern Gaza, AP quoted Palestinian medical officials as saying.
Declaring UN chief Antonio Guterres "persona non grata" Israel on Wednesday accused him of failing to specifically condemn Iran's missile attack on Israel.
In a statement on X, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran's heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil.
"This is an anti-Israel Secretary-General who lends support to terrorists, rapists, and murderers," he said.
Katz added that Guterres, who he said supported the "murderers of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Huthis, and now Iran, the mothership of global terror, will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN for generations to come".
Stating that the situation in the Middle East was developing in an alarming direction, the Kremlin on Wednesday called on all sides to exercise restraint.
Russia had contacts with all sides in the region, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding, “Moscow condemned any action that caused the death of civilians.”
"This situation is developing according to the most alarming scenario. We call for restraint by all sides against the backdrop of what is happening. And of course, we condemn any actions which lead to the deaths of civilians," Reuters quoted Peskov as saying.
India on Wednesday said that it is important that the conflict doesn’t take a wider regional dimension and we urge that all issues be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.
“We are deeply concerned at the escalation of security situation in West Asia and reiterate our call for restraint by all concerned and protection of civilians,” India said in a statement.
In India, Delhi Police has beefed up security around the Israel Embassy in Tughlak Road area. A senior Delhi Police officer said the checking has been intensified with the deployment of more security personnel.
