Diplomatic pressure mounts to prevent escalation between Iran and Israel amid high-profile killings.

Diplomatic pressure mounted on Monday to prevent an escalation between Iran and Israel following high-profile killings that have heightened regional tensions, as numerous governments urged their citizens to leave Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night that his country was “determined to oppose” Iran and its allied armed groups “on all fronts.”

As its war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza approaches its 11th month, Israel has been preparing for retaliation from the Tehran-aligned “axis of resistance” over the killings of two senior figures.

The political leader of the Palestinian armed group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran on Wednesday, in an attack attributed to Israel, which has not made direct comments on the matter, hours after an Israeli attack in Beirut left dead the military chief of Hezbollah, Fuad Shukr.

Tehran said Monday that “no one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime” for Haniyeh’s killing.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterparts from G7 nations on a conference call Sunday that any attack, which he expected to be a joint initiative between Hezbollah and Iran, could happen within 24 to 48 hours, as early as Monday, the U.S. news site Axios reported.

Blinken called on his counterparts to exert diplomatic pressure on Tehran, Hezbollah and Israel to “maintain maximum restraint,” he added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called on “all parties, together with States with influence, to act urgently to de-escalate what has become a very precarious situation.”

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Sunday night that “so far there is no change” in its policy of protecting civilians.

'Path of dialogue'

Experts and diplomats fear that the expected attack on Israel could quickly lead to a regional war.

Turkey on Monday joined several Western and other countries in calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based.

Many airlines have suspended flights to the country or limited them to daytime hours.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, whose country currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, said in a statement: “Together with our partners, we have expressed strong concern about recent developments that threaten to lead to a regionalisation of the crisis, starting with Lebanon.”

“We call on the parties involved to desist from any initiative that could hinder the path of dialogue and moderation,” he added.

On Sunday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made a rare trip to the Iranian capital, during which he delivered a message from King Abdullah II to President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“Jordanian airspace will likely be a theatre of missile and anti-missile attacks” in any direct confrontation between Iran and Israel, but Amman would strongly oppose violations of its sovereignty, political analyst Oraib Rantawi said.

“Iranians must find other ways to spare Jordan this embarrassment,” Rantawi, director of the Amman-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies, told AFP.

The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Palestinian group's attack on October 7, has already involved Iran-backed militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Cross-border clashes

As the region braced for further escalation, Hezbollah and Israel continued their near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said four people were killed in two separate attacks in the border towns of Mais al-Jabal and Hula, while Hezbollah said it had targeted military sites in northern Israel with “explosive-laden drones.”

Cross-border violence since October has killed at least 549 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also at least 116 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.

Analysts told AFP that joint but measured action by Iran and its allies was likely, while Tehran said it expected Hezbollah to strike deeper inside Israel and no longer limit itself to military targets.

Israel's ally the United States said it was sending additional warships and fighter jets to the region.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with his national security team later on Monday “to discuss developments in the Middle East,” the White House said.

Rockets

The Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the Gaza war killed 1,197 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also captured 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 who the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 39,623 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry, which gives no details on civilian and militant deaths.

The toll includes 40 deaths in the past 24 hours, the ministry said Monday.

The Israeli military said around 15 rockets had crossed from the southern Gaza Strip into Israel on Monday, and medics said they were treating one wounded man.

Months of talks, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aimed at a ceasefire and a hostage release deal have repeatedly stalled.

Hamas officials, but also some analysts and protesters in Israel, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war to safeguard his far-right ruling coalition.

The killing of Haniyeh, who was Hamas's chief negotiator in the truce talks, “does not suggest that Israel is sincerely interested in a ceasefire,” said Middle East expert Andreas Krieg.

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