Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said that Iran and Hezbollah could attack Israel in the next 24 to 48 hours.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Tony Blinken told his G7 counterparts that Iran and Hezbollah could attack Israel as early as Monday.
The report from the US news outlet Axios came out on Monday, at a time when fears of a regional war in the Middle East were growing. Last week, the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah were killed. Iran and Hezbollah have promised to get even.
Axios quotes three unnamed sources who say that Blinken told his G7 colleagues on a conference call that Iran and Hezbollah could attack Israel as early as Monday.
According to Axios, sources told Blinken that the US thinks both Iran and Hezbollah will respond. They also said that Washington “doesn’t know the exact timing of the attacks” or what they would look like.
Blinken told his G7 counterpart that the US hopes to stop the situation from getting worse by getting Iran and Hezbollah to stop attacking as much and for Israel not to respond too much. In order to put diplomatic pressure on the three, he asked the other foreign ministers to join the push.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK are all part of the G7. On Monday, they released a statement saying they were “deeply concerned over the heightened level of tension in the Middle East” and urging everyone to be calm, saying that “no country or nation stands to gain from a further escalation.”
Reports say that General Michael Kurilla, who is in charge of US Central Command, will visit Israel on Monday to “finalize preparations” with the Israeli army “ahead of the possible attack.”
“If they dare to attack us, they will pay a heavy price,” warned Yoav Gallant, the defense minister of Israel.
There has been a war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas for almost 10 months. This has led to regular low-level fighting between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah, and other supportive groups in the area.
Most people think that neither side is ready for a full-on war, but the high risk of a conflagration is due to the rising tensions.
After warnings from the US and many European governments, the list of countries telling their citizens to leave Lebanon right away kept growing on Monday.
These days, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and France are among the countries telling their people to leave the country while commercial flights are still running.
