ON THE EDGE
Hezbollah’s puppetmaster Iran threatens ‘serious consequences’ as Israel prepares revenge for Golan Heights atrocity
Funerals for the Israeli children were held yesterday following the horror attack
HEZBOLLAH'S puppetmaster Iran sent a chilling threat to Israel as the country prepares a revenge for the Golan Heights atrocity.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said that any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon will have "serious consequences" for Israel.
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The unsettling warning was made in a phone call with France's Emmanuel Macron, Iran's state media reported on Monday.
"Any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon will have serious consequences for Israel," Pezeshkian was quoted by Iranian state media as saying.
He added: "We are willing to improve our relations with France on the basis of mutual trust."
The French president spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the French presidency said, as Paris seeks to prevent a broader escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
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The presidency said Macron had reminded Netanyahu that France was fully committed to doing "everything to avoid a new escalation in the region by passing messages to all parties involved in the conflict".
It comes as Israeli authorities vowed a heavy response to Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists who killed 12 children playing football.
The heartless Islamists blasted a pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Israel's occupied Golan Heights on Saturday evening with a rocket strike.
Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the attack.
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Israel is now preparing to strike back, reportedly planning "days of fighting" inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah football field strike could spark all-out war with Israel says expert as funerals held
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Shia militants have fled their strongholds in south and east Lebanon after Israel threatened vengeance and "hit the enemy hard".
A source said: "Hezbollah has evacuated some positions in the south and in the Bekaa valley that it thinks could be a target for Israel."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since returned to Israel and summoned a crunch meeting of his security cabinet vowing revenge on the group.
Funerals for the Israeli children were held yesterday in the town of 11,000 in the country's north, which had been devastated by the attack.
Survivors described the children's bodies lying on top of each other, with their limbs blown off.
The 12th victim was identified overnight as 11-year-old Gevara Ebraheem, whose parents unfortunately believed he had "just disappeared" during the attack and would return.
Hezbollah, who operate out of southern Lebanon, have been exchanging tit-for-tat strikes with Israel for months.
The group was back firing missiles on Monday morning with seven striking a hill.
Hezbollah has launched multiple rocket volleys against Israel from the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
Following the rocket attack on Saturday evening, Israel said it replied by attacking Hezbollah targets "deep inside Lebanese territory."
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For years, Israel's Defence Forces (IDF) have been preparing for a hypothetical Hezbollah invasion, as well as defending against it.
The militant group is estimated to have 30,000 to 50,000 fighters and 120,000 to 200,000 missiles, rockets, assault and reconnaissance drones.
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Who are Hezbollah?
Hezbollah - or the Party of God - is a Shia Muslim movement which emerged during the early 1980s with financial backing from Iran.
The group is now considered an Iranian proxy army and the group is committed to destroying Israel.
In 2001, UK ministers banned its external security organisation and seven years later, the proscription was extended to Hezbollah's military wing.
A listing in the official register of banned groups says Hezbollah is "committed to armed resistance to the state of Israel, and aims to seize all Palestinian territories and Jerusalem from Israel".
It added: "Its military wing supports terrorism in Iraq and the Palestinian territories."
Brit officials have accused the Iran organisation of destabilising the Middle East and it is a proscribed group in the UK.
Any members in the UK or supporters could be jailed for up to 10 years.
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