• Lebanon seeks action over Israeli strike on journos
• Netanyahu claims Iran strives for nuclear bomb ‘stockpile’
• Guards chief warns Tel Aviv of ‘bitter consequences’

BAGHDAD: Iraq has condemned Israel’s use of its airspace to attack neighbouring Iran in a protest letter sent to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, Baghdad said on Monday.

A statement from government spokesman Bassim Alawadi said the letter condemns “the Zionist entity’s blatant violation of Iraq’s airspace and sovereignty by using Iraqi airspace to carry out an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on October 26”.

Alawadi said the Iraqi foreign ministry would also bring up “this violation” in talks with the United States, Israel’s close ally and top arms provider.

The Iranian military said that some Israeli aircraft had fired a “small number of long-range missiles… from a distance”, inside the US-patrolled airspace of Iraq.

Lebanon submits complaint

Separately, Lebanon said it had submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council over an Israeli strike last week that killed three journalists in the country’s south.

The strike early Friday hit a complex in the Druze-majority town of Hasbaya in south Lebanon where more than a dozen journalists from Lebanese and Arab media outlets were sleeping.

Lebanon submitted “a complaint to the Security Council regarding the latest Israeli attacks that targeted journalists and media facilities in Hasbaya in south Lebanon, and the Ouzai area” in Beirut, a statement from the foreign ministry said on social media platform X.

“The repeated Israeli targeting of media crews is a war crime” and Israel must be “held to account and punished”, the statement added.

Cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda from Beirut-based broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, and video journalist Wissam Qassem from Al-Manar television, were killed in the strike on the complex in Hasbaya, relatively far from the Israel-Hezbollah war’s flashpoints.

On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged Iran is seeking to develop a “stockpile” of nuclear bombs aimed at destroying Israel. “Iran is striving to develop a stockpile of nuclear bombs to destroy us, equipped with long-range missiles, intercontinental missiles that Iran is trying to develop,” he said.

Meanwhile, the top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has warned Israel it would face “bitter consequences” after its attack.

Guards chief Hossein Salami, quoted by Tasnim news agency, said Israel had “failed to achieve its ominous goals” with its air raids on Saturday.

Salami said the Israeli attack was a sign of “miscalculation and helplessness” as Israel battles Tehran-aligned militants in Gaza and Lebanon. “Its bitter consequences will be unimaginable” for Israel, Salami warned according to Tasnim.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2024