New Delhi [India], April 14 : After Iran launched an attack on Israel with hundreds of drones, missiles on Saturday night, Israeli Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon talked about regional escalation and highlighted the fact that they cannot stand idle when people attack them.
While speaking to ANI, the Israeli envoy said, "If Hezbollah will escalate, they will meet escalation."
Gilon told ANI, "Since October, Israel is in de facto war by proxy with Iran."
"Iran is the financier, trainer, and equipper of all, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen. All of them are fighting with us. And what happened yesterday is that Iran turned it from a war by proxy to a direct attack on Israel," Naor Gilon said to ANI.
Later he highlighted the situation in Israel and stated, "From the Iranian land to Israel they fired 331 rockets, different kinds of rockets, cruise missiles, UAVs"
Gilon said credited the interception of 99 per cent of incoming rockets to the capabilities of the Israeli Defense Forces and Air Force with the help of some of their friends in the region.
He said, "We cannot stand idle when the people attack us. So we retaliate also with Hezbollah so far. If Hezbollah will escalate, they will meet escalation."
"Since Iran attacked, they will meet our reaction sometime down the road," he said.
Recently, on April 7, Israel launched air raids on eastern Lebanon, striking what it claimed to be Hezbollah sites where the Iran-backed group has a strong presence, in retaliation for one of its drones being shot down, Al Jazeera reported.
The latest attack was in response to Iran-backed Hezbollah's downing of an unmanned aerial vehicle on April 6 in Lebanese airspace, which the group identified as the Israeli-made Hermes 900 drone.
"So our expectation is that the old international community, especially our friends, will unite together to stop Iran, stop Iran's support for terrorism and its efforts to destabilize the region," said the Israeli envoy.
"You know, Iran openly, from the leader and down, is stating its wish to destroy the state of Israel, a member, legitimate democratic country, member of the UN. And this is outrageous," he added.
He said during his interview that 133 Israelis were kidnapped in Gaza. "We have to put pressure on Hamas and its sponsor, Iran, in order to make sure that they are released," he added.
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