Iran summons ambassadors as Israel intensifies attack

Iran has summoned the German and Austrian ambassadors after their governments rebuked the Islamic republic over its missile attacks on Israel, state media reported.

The move, according to the official IRNA news agency, was in response to the “unacceptable measures” by Germany and Austria in summoning Iran’s envoys over its attacks on Tuesday.

AFP reports that Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the attack was a “legitimate, responsible and effective response in punishing the aggressor Zionist regime (Israel)”.

Israel’s military said it had hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, as troops battled militants near the border and warplanes bombarded their strongholds around the country.

Israel announced this week that its troops had started “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after days of heavy bombardments of areas across the country where the group holds sway, AFP reports.

The bombing has killed more than 1,000 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in a country already mired in economic and political crisis.

Israel, at war in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, said it shifted its focus to secure its northern border and ensure the safe return of more than 60,000 people displaced by Hezbollah attacks over the past year.

On the Gaza front, the Israeli military said a strike three months ago killed three senior Hamas leaders, including Rahwi Mushtaha, the head of the militant movement’s government in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military said it hit “targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported four air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP they targeted an evacuated building that housed the group’s media relations office and a warehouse near the airport.

Israel told Lebanese people to evacuate more than 20 villages and the city of Nabatiyeh.

“For your own safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Awali River. Save your lives,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.

France has condemned Israel’s move to declare United Nations chief Antonio Guterres “persona non grata”, saying the decision was “unjustified.”

“France regrets the unjustified, serious and counter-productive decision taken by Israel to declare the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, persona non grata,” the French foreign ministry said in a Thursday statement.

Paris said it had “full support for and confidence” in Guterres, adding that the UN played “a fundamental role in the stability of the region.”

Israel has been a harsh critic of the UN, with ties between the state and the international body souring even more after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

The attack triggered international criticisms of the Islamic republic.

Also on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei condemned what he called “the continued biased and irresponsible approach” of the G7 group after it criticised the attack on Israel.