Continued from Page 1

Zionist entity is also weighing how to respond to Iran’s decision to launch about 200 missiles at the country on October 1. Prime Minister’s office said that Zionist entity - and not its top ally the United States - would decide how to strike back. The Iranian barrage was in retaliation for a Zionist airstrike in Lebanon’s Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan on September 27. US President Joe Biden - whose government is Zionist top arms supplier - has warned against striking Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities in order to avoid broader war.

According to a Washington Post report on Monday citing unnamed US officials, Netanyahu reassured the White House that Zionist entity was only contemplating targeting military sites. Oil prices - which soared after Iran’s attack - tumbled by more than five percent following the report. A statement from Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday took a different tone. “We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest,” the statement said. Also on Tuesday, top Iranian commander Esmail Qaani - whose absence sparked rumors that he could have been killed in an airstrike - appeared in public for the first time in weeks when he attended Nilforoushan’s funeral in Tehran.

‘Violent night’

Zionist military launched several strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday, including in the eastern Bekaa Valley where a hospital in Baalbek city was put out of service, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported. “It was a violent night in Baalbek, we have not witnessed a similar one since” the 2006 war between Zionists and Hezbollah, 50-year-old resident Nidal Al-Solh told AFP. The war in Lebanon has displaced at least 690,000 people, according to verified figures last week from the International Organization for Migration.

Zionist entity says it wants to push back Hezbollah in order to secure its northern boundary and allow tens of thousands of people displaced by rocket fire since last year to return home safely. Hezbollah says its strikes are in support of Palestinian militants Hamas. Despite a desperate need for more aid in Gaza, particularly in the north, UNICEF spokesman James Elder lamented that the situation was the worst since the start of offensive. — AFP