Israel on alert: Preparations intensify amid Iran threat
Israel is preparing for an attack from Iran. Ministers have been given satellite phones, and a bunker has been prepared for key figures in the country, according to media reports. A new alarm system for the population has also been tested, and the Ministry of Transport is organising flights for those stranded due to cancelled flights.
The situation in the Middle East is the most tense it has been in months and threatens further escalation of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran and its allies, Palestinian Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Yemeni Houthi movement.
After Israel's recent strike on Beirut and its attributed attack in Tehran, where senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders were killed, Iran and its allies have vowed revenge.
The US has announced that it will help Israel repel any potential attack and is strengthening its forces in the Middle East. However, growing concerns exist that the spiral of attacks could lead to a full-scale war. President Joe Biden and American diplomacy emphasise the need to de-escalate tensions.
Full-scale war in the Middle East? Biden's meeting
US President Joe Biden will meet with his national security team on Monday to discuss the situation in the Middle East. American media justify this by noting that Israel and Iran are increasingly close to escalating mutual armed attacks.
According to the "Washington Examiner", US Vice President and presidential candidate for the November elections, Kamala Harris, will also attend the meeting in the Situation Room. Biden is expected to first speak with Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at his cabinet meeting on Sunday that the Jewish state is already in a "multi-front" war with Iran and its allies.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who is in Iran on the first official visit by a high-ranking Jordanian official to the country in over two decades, also hopes that tensions will not escalate further.
