Netanyahu says Israel is ready for any scenario

Israel is on a high state of alert, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, amid growing expectations that Iran or its allies will retaliate for the killing of senior leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas this week, Reuters has reported.

“Israel is very prepared for any scenario, both defensively and offensively,” said Netanyahu in remarks released by his office following a visit to the Home Front Command. “We will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena.”

The leader of Lebanese group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, vowed on Thursday to respond to Israel’s killing of the group’s most senior military commander in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs this week.

Nasrallah, speaking at the funeral of the slain commander Fuad Shukr, said unnamed countries had asked Hezbollah not to retaliate, but he said the group was exploring a “real, studied” response.

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