The Israel Defense Forces is prepared to deliver “another severe and deep strike” against the Iranian regime, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned on Tuesday.
“The IDF maintained, and continues to maintain, immediate readiness and preparedness to resume operations in Iran,” Zamir told fellow commanders during a training exercise in northern Israel.
The military chief spoke a day after Iran and its Houthi proxy targeted the Jewish state with several volleys of ballistic missiles, prompting Israeli retaliatory airstrikes against targets in the Islamic Republic.
“All of our defensive and offensive capabilities were on high alert and fully prepared—we intercepted the threats launched at us and struck in Iran swiftly and forcefully,” stated Zamir, warning that Monday’s operation was merely a “preparation for a much more significant and powerful blow.”
“Iran’s attempt to dictate new rules and alter the reality will fail,” he declared, in reference to Tehran’s threat to resume attacks if the IDF continues to strike Hezbollah, its Lebanese terrorist proxy.
“We will continue to operate and deepen the damage inflicted on the Hezbollah terrorist organization while defending the communities of northern Israel,” Zamir vowed, adding: “The IDF remains on high alert and will act with determination wherever we identify a threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.”
The IDF’s Home Front Command on Tuesday morning lifted restrictions on civilian life for most of the country after Iranian missile attacks ceased, allowing schools to reopen and daily life to return to normal.
However, the Islamic Republic on Monday afternoon warned it would carry out “far more severe and crushing” missile attacks against Israel if the Jewish state continued military operations against Hezbollah.
“The cessation of armed forces operations is hereby announced,” stated the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran’s highest operational military command, according to a translation by Tehran’s Press TV outlet. The announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Israel and Iran must “immediately stop shooting.”
In a televised address on Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF had refrained from further strikes after responding to the Iranian attacks, but warned that the Jewish state would respond with “overwhelming force” if the regime resumed its assaults.
“At the moment, we are holding our fire, because after we struck the terror regime in Tehran, it ceased attacking us,” he said. “In the event that the terror regime in Iran makes the mistake of resuming attacks on us, we will respond with overwhelming force.”
Iran and Hezbollah have tried to impose a “new equation” on Jerusalem that is “intolerable and unacceptable,” according to the Israeli prime minister.
“They thought they would fire at Israel from Lebanese territory and from Iran, and we would not act. That did not happen, and it will not happen,” Netanyahu said. “Not on my watch.”
