Gaza War Tensions Spike After Deadly Iran Blasts, Lebanon Killing

Jerusalem, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Jan, 2024) Fears that Israel's war in Gaza could spiral across the middle East mounted Wednesday after twin explosions ripped through an Iranian crowd, claiming at least 103 lives following an Israeli strike in Lebanon that killed Hamas's deputy leader.

More than 200 other people were wounded when the blasts about 15 minutes apart struck mourners commemorating slain Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani on the fourth anniversary of his killing in a United States drone strike, Iran's state media reported.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts which, according to AFP archives, were the country's deadliest attack since a 1978 arson that killed at least 377 people.

State-run tv labelled the blasts a "terrorist attack". They came with regional tensions already soaring a day after the Beirut strike which killed Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri.

A US official on Wednesday told AFP "an Israeli strike" took the life of Aruri, the most high-profile figure killed during the nearly three months that Israel has been at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.