Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah may strike Israel in the coming days, regardless of Iran's intentions, CNN said, citing sources familiar with the intelligence.
According to them, Hezbollah is more advanced in preparing an attack on Israel than Iran, so it will be able to attack in the coming days. The Islamic Republic, for its part, is still developing countermeasures, and they still fall short of U.S. expectations for a large-scale Iranian attack.
Sources also told CNN that the Shiite movement could strike without warning because of its shared border with Israel, as opposed to Iran. It is not yet known how Hezbollah and Iran are coordinating their actions, but U.S. officials believe they have not yet reached an agreement on next steps.
Earlier, Politico newspaper, citing US officials, reported that Iran may reconsider its decision to carry out a massive attack on Israel in the coming months days in response to the assassination of the head of the Politburo of the Palestinian radical movement Hamas Ismail Haniya in Tehran. They said the United States still expects some reaction from Iran to Haniya's killing, but does not believe the republic will launch an attack on Israel in the near future, as Tehran has revised its initial response plan.
The next round of escalation in the Middle East followed the death of Haniya in Tehran and the liquidation in Beirut of one of the commanders of the military wing of the Shiite movement Hezbollah. Fouad Shokra. Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah blamed Israel for what happened and said they would not let it go unanswered.