Iran warns Israel against retaliation for missile attack

The commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards warned Israel on Thursday against attacking the Islamic Republic in retaliation for a missile barrage as its arch foe stepped up its offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah.

Fears of wider conflict have increased as Israel plans its response to the October 1 missile attack carried out by Iran after Israeli airstrikes on Iran-allied militias.

"We tell you [Israel] that if you commit any aggression against any point, we will painfully attack the same point of yours," Hossein Salami said in a televised speech, adding that Iran can penetrate Israel's defenses.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday about Israel's operations in Lebanon and Gaza, Palestine. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi landed in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials as part of a Middle Eastern tour as tension builds.

The EU held its first summit with Gulf states and issued a statement calling for calm: "We underscore the importance of diplomatic engagement with Iran – to pursue regional de-escalation," it said.

Israel shows no signs of easing its military campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine's Gaza despite repeated calls for ceasefires, and it has vowed to punish Iran for its October 1 attack.

Iran and its Middle East allies – Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq – say they will not back down in the face of relentless pressure from the most advanced and powerful military in the region.

The mayor of a major town in south Lebanon was among 16 people killed on Wednesday when an Israeli airstrike destroyed its municipal headquarters in the biggest attack on an official Lebanese state building since the Israeli air campaign began.

Lebanese officials denounced the incident, which also wounded more than 50 people in Nabatieh, a provincial capital, saying it was proof that Israel's campaign against Hezbollah was now shifting to target the Lebanese state.

The Israelis "intentionally targeted a meeting of the municipal council to discuss the city's service and relief situation" to aid people displaced by the Israeli campaign, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.

Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since the Lebanese group opened a new front, saying it was in solidarity with the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

The EU commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarcic, said Israel's "brutal response" to last year's Hamas attack had resulted in a devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza that was now continuing in Lebanon.

"Humanitarian workers have been targeted and killed, hundreds of them. There is no security and safety for humanitarian work to be organized in (a) satisfactory manner," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an ASEAN event in Jakarta, describing the provision of humanitarian supplies as "grossly insufficient."