Explosions and interception attempts were heard and reported in Israel and across Gulf countries on Wednesday, as Iran swore vengeance hours after its state media confirmed that top Iranian security official Ali Larijani had been killed in an overnight Israeli strike.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib was also “eliminated” in a strike overnight, the third major Iranian figure assassinated this week. There has been no confirmation from Iran regarding Khatib’s reported death.
Funerals for Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force, took place on Wednesday in Tehran, according to Iranian media.
A barrage of Iranian missiles struck near Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv, killing two people, Israel’s emergency service said, while Gulf nations intercepted rockets and drones headed for targets, including the United States’ bases in the region.
In Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke. Two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighborhoods killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The US-Israel war against Iran has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, more than 900 in Lebanon and 14 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The US military said 13 US service members have been killed and about 200 injured.
Larijani, 68, was the most prominent figure of the Islamic republic killed in Israeli and US attacks on Iran since Feb 28, when supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, igniting a war across the Middle East. Larijani was reportedly seen walking openly with crowds at a pro-government rally last week in Tehran.
“Iran’s response to the assassination of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council will be decisive and unforgiving,” Iranian army chief Amir Hatami said in a statement.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan lashed out at Israel, condemning its “political assassinations” of Tehran’s leaders as “illegal activities in violation of the normal laws of war”.
Israel vowed to target the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he succeeded his father.
‘Solutions remote’
Experts said Larijani’s death would make a diplomatic solution to the war more difficult and longer to reach, as incoming Iranian leaders might be “harder-edged” than predecessors.
Sultan Barakat, a senior professor in public policy at Qatar’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said Larijani’s death “will strengthen the line of the hard-liners” within the Iranian government to start with, and diplomatic solutions will remain “slightly more remote” at the moment.
Larijani was able to speak to both sides of the political aisle, which made him “very important” for maintaining the “balance of power” in Iran, Barakat added.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said Israel’s continuous targeting of high-profile Iranian leaders is not a normal practice in warfare.
Israel is “turning this (war) into an industry of assassinations, which is not the norm in wars,” he said. “In wars, you don’t start by killing political leaders, including elected leaders. That program of assassination is gangster; it’s terrorism; it’s not the norm of war.”
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates may join a US-led effort to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Emirati official said on Tuesday, as Iran has largely shut it, raising fears of a global energy shock.
Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said talks were ongoing and no formal plan had been agreed, but that “big countries” in Asia, the Middle East and Europe bore responsibility for ensuring the flow of trade and energy.
“This is something that is in the interest of everybody,” he told an online event hosted by the US think tank the Council on Foreign Relations. “Everybody has a responsibility.”
The UAE has faced more Iranian attacks than any other country in the region, including Israel. Tehran has claimed that Emirati territory was used to launch an attack against Iran, an accusation the oil-rich Gulf state has rejected.
Contact the writers at cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn