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Iran Says Expects Hezbollah to Hit Deeper Inside Israel

Hezbollah fighters. (File photo/AFP)
Hezbollah fighters. (File photo/AFP)
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Iran Says Expects Hezbollah to Hit Deeper Inside Israel

Hezbollah fighters. (File photo/AFP)
Hezbollah fighters. (File photo/AFP)

Iran said on Saturday it expects Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah group to hit deeper inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets after Israel killed the Hezbollah military commander.

Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israeli forces, saying it is targeting military positions over the border, since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking war in Gaza, AFP reported.

But a strike claimed by Israel in an overcrowded residential area of South Beirut changed the calculus, Iran's mission to the United Nations said.

"We expect... Hezbollah to choose more targets and (strike) deeper in its response," said the mission quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

"Secondly, that it will not limit its response to military targets."

The strike on Tuesday killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr. According to Lebanon's health ministry, five civilians -- three women and two children -- also died.

Israel said Shukr was responsible for rocket fire that killed 12 youths in the annexed Golan Heights, and had directed Hezbollah's attacks on Israel since the Gaza war began.

"Hezbollah and the (Israeli) regime had observed certain lines", including limiting strikes to border areas and military targets, Iran's mission said.

The Beirut strike crossed that line, it added.

Hours after Shukr's killing, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a pre-dawn "hit" on his accommodation in Tehran, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said.

On Thursday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Israel and "those who are behind it must await our inevitable response" to the killings of both Shukr and Haniyeh.

Iran and Hamas have also vowed to retaliate.

In Iran, the voices clamouring for revenge have intensified since Haniyeh's killing.

On Saturday, the ultraconservative Kayhan daily said retaliatory operations were expected to be "more diverse, more dispersed and impossible to intercept."

"This time, areas such as Tel Aviv and Haifa and the strategic centers and especially residences of some officials involved in the recent crimes are among the targets," Kayhan in an opinion piece.

Late Friday, an Iranian state TV presenter anticipated "astounding and major events" taking place "in the coming hours" in Israel.

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India’s Navy Launches Submarine, Warships to Guard against China’s Presence in Indian Ocean

A view of the Indian Navy's three frontline vessels during the commissioning ceremony in Mumbai, India, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
A view of the Indian Navy's three frontline vessels during the commissioning ceremony in Mumbai, India, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
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India’s Navy Launches Submarine, Warships to Guard against China’s Presence in Indian Ocean

A view of the Indian Navy's three frontline vessels during the commissioning ceremony in Mumbai, India, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
A view of the Indian Navy's three frontline vessels during the commissioning ceremony in Mumbai, India, 15 January 2025. (EPA)

India's navy on Wednesday simultaneously launched a submarine, a destroyer and a frigate built at a state-run shipyard, underscoring the importance of protecting the Indian Ocean region through which 95% of the country's trade moves amid a strong Chinese presence.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Atlantic Ocean’s importance has shifted to the Indian Ocean region, which is becoming a center of international power rivalry.

“India is giving the biggest importance to making its navy powerful to protect its interests,” he said.

“The commissioning of three major naval combatants marks a significant leap forward in realizing India’s vision of becoming a global leader in defense manufacturing and maritime security,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while commissioning the vessels at the state-run Mazagon dockyard in Mumbai.

The situation in the Indian Ocean region is challenging with the Chinese navy, India’s main rival, growing exponentially, said Rahul Bedi, a defense analyst.

Bedi said that the INS Vagsheer submarine, the sixth among a French license-built Kalvari (Scorpene)-class conventional diesel-electric submarines, is aimed at replacing aging Indian underwater platforms and plugging serious capability gaps in existing ones. India now has a total of 16 submarines.

The P75 Scorpene submarine project represents India’s growing expertise in submarine construction in collaboration with the Naval Group of France, Bedi said.

India’s defense ministry is expected to conclude a deal for three additional Scorpene submarines to be built in India during Modi’s likely visit to Paris next month to attend the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

However, the first of these boats, according to the Indian navy, is only likely to be commissioned by 2031.

India commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier in 2022 to counter regional rival China’s much more extensive and growing fleet and expand its indigenous shipbuilding capabilities.

The INS Vikrant, whose name is a Sanskrit word for “powerful” or “courageous,” is India’s second operational aircraft carrier. It joins the Soviet-era INS Vikramaditya, which India purchased from Russia in 2004 to defend the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.