Tehran
\nIranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has urged Israel to end its airstrikes on Gaza, warning that the conflict with Hamas could spread across the region if Israel sends ground forces into the enclave, and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah enters the fray.
\n\u201cI know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place,\u201d Amir-Abdollahian said in a briefing with reporters in Beirut on Saturday. \u201cAny step the resistance will take will cause a huge earthquake for Israel.\u201d
\nAccording to two diplomatic sources cited by Axios, Iran is trying to prevent the war from spreading, and seeking to help Israeli civilian hostages being held in Gaza \u2013 but if the military operation continues and Israel goes ahead with a ground offensive, Iran will have to respond.
\n\u201cThere is still a political opportunity to prevent a widespread crisis in the region,\u201d the minister noted, but \u201cmaybe, in the next few hours, it will be too late.\u201d
\nThis week, the top Iranian diplomat visited Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, where he met with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as well as senior Lebanese officials, to discuss the \u201cpotential outcome\u201d and the \u201cpositions that must be taken\u201d in light of the war.
\nIn a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, Amir-Abdollahian accused Israel of \u201cwar crimes\u201d against the people of Gaza and repeated his warning that if Israel does not stop, \u201cany possibility is conceivable.\u201d Bou Habib backed his counterpart, saying that Lebanon \u201chas never wanted or sought war\u201d and warning that further escalation \u201cwill ignite the region and threaten security and peace in it\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and call for the end of the siege and the delivery of aid to Gaza,\u201d Bou Habib stressed.
\nHezbollah fighters are on full alert along the Lebanon border, and have been exchanging sporadic fire with Israel since last Saturday\u2019s Hamas incursion that left at least 1,300 Israeli civilians and soldiers dead.
\nThe Iran-backed group is considered a major threat to Israel, as it possesses some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles that can reach anywhere in Israel, as well as thousands of battle-hardened fighters and various types of military drones.
\nThe top Iranian diplomat also met with a senior political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Qatar on Saturday evening, but details of the meeting have yet to be disclosed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tehran Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has urged Israel to end its airstrikes on Gaza, warning that the conflict with Hamas could spread across the region if Israel sends ground forces into the enclave, and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah enters the fray. \u201cI know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place,\u201d Amir-Abdollahian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-361827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n