Israel is determined to respond to the major Iranian attack. The current plan is to keep Iran in the dark about the nature and timing of a possible response.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told representatives of American Jewish society that it was not in Israel's interest to respond and launch a counterattack. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak advised prudence after Iran's attacks on Israel. A significant escalation is in no one's interest, Sunak emphasized, according to a statement from the British government. The news ticker on the Middle East conflict has been updated to reflect the latest developments in the conflict. The latest version of this article was amended on April 17 to make clear that Israel is still waiting to react to the attack. We are happy to clarify that this was not the case and that the Israeli government has not yet made a decision on how to respond. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the publication of this information. We have been asked to make it clear that this information was not intended to suggest that Israel has decided to respond in any way. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel's President Benjamin Netanyahu of being the only person responsible for the tensions in the Middle East. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has called for restraint in the face of an impending escalation between Iran and Israel. The Israeli military (IDF) says it has killed a Hezbollah commander. One of Israel's planes "hit and knocked out" Ismail Yusaf Baz in the area of the village of Ain Ebel in Lebanon, it said. According to the IDF, the senior leader of the Hezbollah militia planned to fire rockets at Israel from the Lebanese coast. Putin expressed the hope that there would not be another round of confrontation. However, the Russian ruler did not explicitly condemn Iran's attack on Israel. The death of the Hezbollah leader was confirmed by the pro-Iranian militia. The militia did not say when, where, or how exactly he died. Lebanon's state news agency reported that two more people were injured in an Israeli attack on a car in the town of Ain Baal near the Israeli border.