Netanyahu Promises ‘Surprises’ For Next Phase of Attacks on Iran

Tel Aviv, March 8: Israel renewed its assault on southern Lebanon early Sunday, including targeting commanders of the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” for the next phase of the conflict. The Israeli military said in a statement that it would “not allow Iranian terrorist elements to establish themselves in Lebanese territory.”

The latest strikes in Lebanon followed an Israeli attack Saturday on an oil storage facility in Tehran, which sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in Associated Press video as a glow against the night sky. It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. State media blamed “an attack from the U.S. and the Zionist regime” at the site that supplies the capital and neighbouring provinces in the north.

Elsewhere, Kuwait authorities said two border guards were killed when the Gulf country was hit by a swarm of missiles and drones. The Interior Ministry said only that the guards were killed “while performing their national duty.” No other details were available.

Israeli airstrikes killed eight people in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, and local media reported that an Israeli drone hit a hotel in Beirut, killing four and wounding 10 others. The deaths come on top of at least 47 others killed Saturday in Israeli strikes.

Trump threatened that Iran would be “hit very hard” and more “areas and groups of people” would become targets, without elaborating. Already, the conflict has rattled global markets and left Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes. “We’re not looking to settle,” Trump told reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One. “They’d like to settle. We’re not looking to settle.” He described the ongoing U.S. operations in Iran as an “excursion” and said issues such as rising gas prices and the safety of Americans would improve once the conflict ends.