Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant hinted on Tuesday that the country had retaliated in Iraq, Yemen and Iran for attacks carried out against it as the war with Hamas-led Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip widens to other areas of the region.
“We are in a multi-front war and are coming under attack from seven theatres: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria (West Bank), Iraq, Yemen and Iran. We have already responded and taken action in six of these theatres,” he told lawmakers.
Since Gaza hostilities erupted with a cross-border Hamas rampage on Oct 7, the Israeli military has said it also retaliated for knock-on attacks from Lebanon and Syria, and carried out raids on Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.
It has not published such actions in Yemen, whose Iran-aligned Houthis have carried out long-range missile and drone launches at Israel and attacked shipping in the Red Sea, nor in Iraq, where a pro- Iran militia said last week it had fired a drone at the southern Israeli port city of Eilat.
Nor has Israel published any operations within Iran, its arch-enemy and a sponsor of Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.