Askume, Sept 21 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Israel was not targeting terrorists but committing “shameful crimes” against children.
Israel carried out an airstrike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing at least 31 people, including 3 children and 7 women, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Friday’s attack, which targeted a building next to a nursery, was the deadliest in a year of conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, a source said .
This was followed by two days of attacks in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members were blown up. Lebanon has blamed Israel for the attacks, but Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Khamenei said Israel also did not hide its various “shameful crimes” in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria.
In a speech broadcast on state television, Khamenei told a group of ambassadors from Muslim countries in Tehran that it was “not a clash with fighters, but a clash with ordinary people.”
“They are unable to harm real Palestinian fighters and instead vent their anger on small children, hospital patients and schools full of young children.”
Iran on Saturday also demonstrated its “Jihad” single-stage liquid-fuelled ballistic missile, which has a high-explosive detachable warhead and a range of 1,000 kilometres, state television reported.
The missiles were displayed along with other military equipment in a parade marking the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 war in Iraq.
