A member of the Lebanese intelligence service stands at the site of an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the Adloun plain area, between Lebanon’s southern cities of Sidon and Tyre, on April 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it launched drone attacks on two north Israel bases on April 23 in retaliation for the killing of a fighter Israel described as “significant”.

Since Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, there have been near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

But Hezbollah has stepped up its rocket attacks on Israeli positions in recent days, with the latest assault targeting beyond the border area that the group usually strikes.

Hezbollah launched “a combined air attack using decoy and explosive drones that targeted” two Israeli bases north of Acre, the group announced in a statement, while Israel said they did not hit their targets.

The Lebanese group added the attack was “in response” to an Israeli drone strike that killed one of its members in south Lebanon earlier in the day.

Israel’s army said it had “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast”.

On Tuesday morning, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP an Israeli drone strike deep into Lebanon killed an engineer working for the group’s air defence forces as he was travelling in a vehicle.

The strike hit the Abu al-Aswad area near the coastal city of Tyre, some 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the border, an AFP journalist reported.

The fighter’s vehicle was completely burnt out.

Hezbollah said one of its fighters had been killed by Israeli fire, adding he was a resident of the area where the vehicle was struck.

The group also said another fighter had been killed by Israel in a statement overnight.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli army had said it killed “two significant terrorists in Hezbollah’s aerial unit” on Tuesday morning and overnight.

The fighter killed Tuesday was “heavily involved in the planning and execution of terrorist attacks against Israel,” it added.

On Sunday evening, Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone, both sides said.

Since October 7, at least 378 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi (C) attends a military parade alongside high-ranking officials and commanders during a ceremony marking the country’s annual army day in Tehran. File.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on April 19 hailed Tehran’s unprecedented retaliatory attack on Israel almost a week ago but did not mention explosions heard in his country’s central region.

World leaders called for de-escalation, after United States media quoted officials saying Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran, after the Islamic republic’s missile and drone attack against Israel.

Analysis | By attacking Israel, Iran turns shadow war into direct conflict

That operation “showed our authority, our people’s will of steel and our unity,” Mr. Raisi told hundreds of people in Semnan province, east of Tehran.

In the speech, he made no reference to the blasts, and there has been no official reaction either from Iranian or Israeli officials.

The blasts resounded early Friday in the central province of Isfahan, state media said.

Iran’s space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian, referring to a type of drone, said there was “a failed and humiliating attempt to fly quad-copters, which were shot down.”

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he denied Iran had been attacked from abroad.

“There have been no air attacks from outside the borders against Isfahan or other parts of the country so far,” he said.

Iran’s army commander-in-chief Abdolrahim Mousavi attributed Friday’s explosions to “the firing of anti-aircraft defence systems on a suspicious object.”

He said there was “no damage” and that investigations were underway to assess the scale of the incident, according to Tasnim news agency.

Overnight last Saturday-Sunday Iran carried out its first-ever attack directly targeting Israel.

The attack was in response to an April 1 air strike which levelled Tehran’s consular annex in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards members, including two generals.

The United Nations Security Council meets on the situation in the Middle East at the UN headquarters in New York City on April 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iran fired air defense batteries early Friday, April 19, 2024 morning after reports of explosions near the city of Isfahan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

It remained unclear if the country was under attack. However, tensions remain high in the wider Middle East after Iran’s unprecedented missile-and-drone attack on Israel.

IRNA said the defenses fired across several provinces. It did not elaborate on what caused the batteries to fire, though people across the area reported hearing the sounds.

The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported the sound of blasts, without giving a cause. State television acknowledged “loud noise” in the area.

Earlier, the commercial flights began diverting their routes over western Iran without explanation early Friday as one semiofficial news agency in the Islamic Republic reported “explosions” heard over the city of Isfahan. State television acknowledged “loud noise.”

The incident comes as tensions remain high in the wider Middle East after Iran’s unprecedented missile-and-drone attack on Israel.

Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting around western Iran about 4:30 a.m. local time. They offered no explanation, though local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed.

The semiofficial Fars news agency reported on explosions being heard over Isfahan near its international airport. It offered no explanation. However, Isfahan is home to a major airbase for the Iranian military, as well as sites associated with its nuclear program.

Iranian state television began a scrolling, on-screen alert acknowledging a “loud noise” near Isfahan, without immediately elaborating.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran’s Ambassador to India Iraj Elahi.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

India can play an important role in stopping Israel’s operations in Gaza, said Iran’s Ambassador to India Iraj Elahi, adding that Iran would also “welcome” any mediatory role by India to bring peace and stability to the region.

Mr. Elahi said Iran has kept India fully briefed about last week’s air attack on Israel, and said its main objectives, to “deter Israel” and demonstrate the “possible costs of transgressing red lines”, had been achieved. The U.S. White House has described Iran’s attack, sending about 350 drones and missiles on Israeli targets on April 13, a “spectacular and embarrassing failure”, as more than 90% were intercepted by the US, Israel and Jordan.

“This is what Israel and Western countries say. But the reality is something else, and the Israeli regime understood what Iran’s missile capability is. Every operation has its own objective. The main objective of this operation was to deter Israel and to warn them of the dangerous consequences of their reckless deeds,” Mr. Elahi told The Hindu in a written response to a question about the US statement. He said the operations had “proven” that all the “vital military bases” of the Israeli Defence Forces would be “easily accessible” if Iran decided to use “more developed weapons”.

Iran has said its attacks were a “legitimate” response to Israel’s bombing of the Iranian Embassy building in Damascus on April 1 that killed seven military advisors including a senior Iranian general, which Mr. Elahi said was a violation of the Vienna Convention and other conventions on the protection for diplomats. The Ministry of External Affairs’ response to both Israel’s attack and Iran’s counterattack has been seen as neutral, with no direct condemnation of either country but expressing serious concerns about the escalation of tensions in the region.

“I cannot speak for the Indian government. Each country has its own position in such situations. But what is certain is that attacking diplomatic places is prohibited according to international conventions,” Mr. Elahi said. He said India should condemn Israeli operations in Gaza in retaliation for the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas, that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead, and dozens taken hostage. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli operations since then, mostly women and children.

“We believe that India can play a very important role in stopping” Israel operations in Gaza, Mr. Elahi said, adding that “the Indian government can play an active role in condemning these actions of Israel.” When asked whether India could play mediator in the region given its strong strategic ties with both Iran and Israel, the Iranian Ambassador said his government would “welcome any action to reduce tension and establish peace and stability in the region”.

Israel’s Ambassador Naor Gilon has said Iran’s attacks “cannot go unanswered”. “We have to make it clear to Iran that these are unacceptable, and our capabilities to retaliate are reasonable,” he told various news channels this week.

The Iranian Ambassador also said bilateral cooperation with India over the Chabahar port project, where India operates a terminal, is “going well”, and promised that there would be “good news in this regard in the coming days”. When asked about India’s 2018 decision to cancel import of Iranian oil due to U.S. sanctions, Mr. Elahi said that as an oil exporter, Iran was ready to sell to any country. “If there is a request from the Indian government to buy oil, Iran will definitely welcome it,” he added.

Ann Tessa Joseph, a deck cadet who was a part of 17 Indian Indian nationals onboard the seized vessel MSC Aries, on her arrival at the Cochin Airport, Thursday, April 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

One of the 17 Indian sailors aboard the Portugal-flagged MSC Aries that was detained by the Iranian authorities last weekend has returned home in Kerala, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has announced. Ann Tessa Joseph, a resident of Thrissur, was welcomed at the Cochin International Airport by government officials when she arrived from Iran on Thursday (April 18).

“The Indian Mission in Tehran remains seized of the matter and is in touch with the remaining 16 Indian crew members of the container vessel. The crew members are in good health and in contact with their family members in India,” said the MEA in a press release informing that the MEA is trying to ensure the well being of the Indian sailors in Iranian custody. The Iranian authorities had earlier claimed that the cargo vessel had “violated international maritime law”.

In the meanwhile, in an interview with The Hindu, Iran’s ambassador to India, Iraj Elahi said on April 18, “Indian sailors are not detained. They are at the disposal of the ship’s captain. We are in direct contact with the Indian Embassy in Tehran and the Indian citizens are in a very good condition. As far as we know, they haven’t been able to come to the beach yet due to the bad weather and stormy sea. They are free and can leave Iran whenever they like.”

On April 13, the ship was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who rappelled down from a helicopter on the ship and steered it towards an Iranian base. Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz had described the Iranian move as “pirate operation” saying, “I call on the European Union and the free world to immediately declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps as a terrorist organisation and to sanction Iran now.”

As a result, sources said the return of the other 16 Indians, still on board the MSC Aries at sea is more complex. While no charges have been pressed against the crew members, the ship itself has been impounded, and the crew would need a second ship to help them come ashore. In addition, the Aries cannot be left unmanned, and therefore, some crew members would need to remain. After a strong request from India, including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s intervention, the Iranian government made an exception for the female cadet, and have ensured that other crew members can speak to their families in India.

The MEA swung into action after news spread that at least 17 Indian sailors were among the crew of the MSC Aries that is owned by London-headquartered Zodiac Maritime of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer. At the time of the incident, the vessel was chartered to Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) headquartered in Switzerland. The MEA had started dialogue with the Iranian authorities both through the Indian embassy in Tehran as well as the Iranian embassy here to free the Indian members of the crew.

Soon thereafter, Mr. Jaishankar reached out to his counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and sought Tehran’s assistance in ensuring early release of the Indian crew members.

Interception of the MSC Aries added to the tension between Iran and Israel that subsequently led to the first ever drone and missile attack by Iran on multiple targets in Israel. By capturing the ship from the Strait of Hormuz, Iran had hinted that it had the military might to disrupt maritime traffic through the strategically important route in case of any further escalation in tension between Tehran and Tel Aviv. The incident is also an escalation to the ongoing Red Sea crisis. Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Houthi rebels in Yemen have been targeting Israeli-linked commercial shipping on the high seas with ballistic missiles and drones.