Ex-Israeli defense minister calls for ‘maximum strike' against Iran

JERUSALEM

Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called Tuesday for a “maximum strike” against energy fields and nuclear facilities in Iran.

“We must deliver a maximum strike that includes energy fields and Iranian nuclear facilities,” Lieberman, leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party, told Army Radio.

"If we respond as they want us to, it will lead us into a war of attrition against Iran, and we cannot allow that to happen,” he said.

Lieberman, also a former foreign minister, demanded the Israeli government immediately stop all humanitarian aid, fuel, electricity, and water from entering Gaza.

On Sunday, the Pentagon said it will deploy a THAAD air defense battery to Israel amid an anticipated Israeli strike against Iran.

In early October, Iran launched about 180 missiles in an attack Tehran described as “retaliation” for the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander.

Last week, Israel threatened Iran with a "lethal, precise, and especially surprising" retaliatory attack.

Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 42,400 people, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack last year.

The conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, which have killed more than 1,500 people and injured over 4,500 others since Sept. 23.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala