U.S. pledges 'ironclad' support to Israel amid fears of Iranian strike on Jewish state

U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged "ironclad" support to Israel, amid reports that Tehran is poised to launch a revenge attack after an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus last week.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel would be "punished" for the incident that killed several senior leaders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp. He added that Tehran considers the strike in Syria equivalent to an attack on Iranian soil.

Biden said "We're going to do all we can to protect Israel's security."

Analysts have warned that an Iranian strike on the Jewish state risks a serious escalation of the conflict underway in Gaza.

READ MORE

Botswana offers to send Germany 20,000 elephants

Genetic clues to left-handedness revealed

European pasta market beats to Turkish durum

The U.S.'s Middle East envoy has appealed to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Iraq to assist lowering tensions with Israel. Brett McGurk, the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL in the U.S., asked officials to send a message to Iran to step back from further hostilities.

Russia has advised its citizens against traveling to the Middle East. The warning from the foreign ministry comes just as Moscow called on all countries in the region to show restraint to prevent further bloodshed.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia, which retains significant diplomatic links to Tehran, had received no requests to mediate between Israel and Iran. But he added that Moscow considers the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus to be a violation of international law.

German airline Lufthansa has extended a suspension of its flights to Tehran, after Iran's threat to retaliate against Israel.  A Lufthansa flight departing from Frankfurt was canceled at the weekend to avoid the crew having to stay overnight in the Iranian capital.

Now the airline says no further flights will depart in the coming days. Austrian Airlines, the only other western carrier to serve routes to Iran, says it is adjusting timings to avoid overnight layovers.

An Israeli attack in northern Gaza has killed three sons of the Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh along with four of his grandchildren. Israel says it believes the men were operatives of the militant group. Haniyeh has accused Israel of acting in "the spirit of revenge and murder" and said the killings would not change Hamas's position.

More than 100 Israeli army conscripts have reportedly refused deployment to the Gaza border. The soldiers, all women, are refusing to serve in surveillance units citing security fears. The Times of Israel reports that the women claim senior army commanders had disregarded warnings about a possible attack by Hamas ahead of the October 7 attacks.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday