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Sun, Dec 22, 2024 | Jumada al-Aakhirah 21, 1446 | DXB
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Netanyahu warns Iranians 'nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach'
Israel says the killing of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah not the 'final' step
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves airstrikes on Beirut over the phone from New York, US, on September 27, 2024. — Reuters
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned Iranians there was no place in the Middle East beyond Israel's reach, as his military launched strikes on the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach," Netanyahu said in a video statement issued in English, warning the people of Iran that their "regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war".
Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon would continue and that the killing of the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah was not the "final" step.
"The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israel's northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you," Gallant told soldiers deployed to the northern border.
Meanwhile, the top US diplomat said Monday the world is safer after Israel's killing of Nasrallah, describing the Iran-backed Lebanese group's leader as a "brutal terrorist".
"The region, the world are safer without him," Antony Blinken said, even as he insisted that "diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East".
He vowed the United States would continue working "urgently" to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
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