Civilians and IDF units deployed in northern Israel remained on high alert Wednesday, following a firebrand speech by Muhammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) warning that they can expect “ruinous thunderbolts” in response to an airstrike earlier this week which killed a senior IRGC General and several operatives of the Lebanese Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah. Officially, Israel has neither confirmed or denied responsibility for the strike but Reuters reported on Tuesday that an unnamed Israeli official said the strike was intended to target Syrian terrorists and that Israel was unaware of the presence in the vehicle of the IRGC General. Meanwhile, the Iranian issue received only a passing reference in US President Barak Obama’s State of the Nation speech Tuesday evening despite news that Iran and Russia signed a strategic military alliance earlier in the day.Read More
