United States Senator Lindsey Graham took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday evening, showing his full support for Israel.
He started off by saying, "Everyone is right to suggest that Hamas' barbaric attack against Israel was aided by Iran. Everyone is right when they say that Iran is the chief supporter of Hezbollah - a Shiite terrorist organization with tens of thousands of rockets pointed at Israel from Lebanon."
Everyone is right to suggest that Hamas’ barbaric attack against Israel was aided by Iran. Everyone is right when they say that Iran is the chief supporter of Hezbollah - a Shiite terrorist organization with tens of thousands of rockets pointed at Israel from Lebanon.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 8, 2023
"Iran should pay dearly for any escalation directed at Israel involved Hezbollah," he continued. "An attack by Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxies, would be devastating to Israeli defense systems. If such an attack occurs, Israel and the United States should go after the Iranian oil refineries and oil infrastructure - which is the lifeblood of the Iranian economy.
"It is long past time for the Iranian terrorist state to pay a price for all the upheaval and destruction being sown throughout the region and world."
On early Saturday afternoon, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei congratulated Palestinian fighter for launching the biggest attack on Israel in years, the semi-official ISNA news site reported.
"We congratulate the Palestinian fighters," it quoted Rahim Safavi as saying. "We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem."
Israel to evacuate communities around the Gaza Strip, North
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had ordered an evacuation on Sunday for the communities near the Gaza Strip and for communities up north, according to Israeli media.
Gallant conveyed his gratitude to the authorities for their efforts in moving civilians from areas near the Gaza Strip. He further directed the institution to ready themselves for similar actions in the northern parts of Israel.
Two rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel, with the IDF responding with artillery fire toward southern Lebanon on Sunday morning, just hours after an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and the IDF in the Har Dov area.
The IDF around 7:15 a.m. on Sunday morning counter-attacked Hezbollah with artillery at positions from which the terror group fired on Israel just a few minutes before. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the mortar fire in an unusual official statement.