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Hezbollah has launched a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv for the first time, triggering sirens in the city and elsewhere including Netanya, the Lebanese resistance group says. 

Warning sirens sounded in Israel’s economic capital Tel Aviv as a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by air defense systems after it was detected crossing from Lebanon, the Israeli military said.

There were no reports of damage or casualties and the military said there was no change to civil defense instructions for central Israel.

The Israeli military said that for the "first time ever" a missile fired by Hezbollah reached the Tel Aviv area. "It is the first time ever a Hezbollah missile reached Tel Aviv area."

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging deadly fire since early October last year, shortly after the regime launched a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip following a surprise operation by Hamas.

Earlier, Hezbollah targeted the Israeli Ilaniya military base at the northern side of the occupied territories with a salvo of Fadi-1 rockets. 

The base is reportedly affiliated with the 146th Reserve Division of the Israeli military, which is part of the Northern Command.

The group announced in a brief statement that the operation was carried out in defense of Lebanon and its people. 

Hezbollah also said it targeted a military base near Safad twice with salvos of rockets.

The group stated that it targeted “the Dado base near Safad – the headquarters of the Israeli military’s Northern Command – with a total of 90 rockets in defense of Lebanon and its people.”

Hezbollah said in a separate statement that it unleashed a squadron of attack drones on the headquarters of the Israeli army’s Special Naval Task Force at the Alit Base.

The group said the attack on the Alit base, south of the major port city of Haifa, targeted “the locations of [Israeli] officers and soldiers” and achieved direct hits.

The Lebanese resistance movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory attacks as long as the Israeli regime continues its Gaza war, which has so far killed at least 41,467 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said they do not want a war with Israel while stressing that they are prepared in case it occurs.

Two Israeli wars waged against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006 were met with strong resistance from Hezbollah, resulting in the retreat of the regime in both conflicts.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has hailed “the brilliant work of our armed forces” in launching a missile strike on the Tel Aviv area, saying it was “completely legal and legitimate”.

Ayatollah Khamenei delivered a public sermon at the weekly Friday (Jum’a) prayer to a huge number of worshipers gathered at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran.

“The brilliant work of our armed forces was completely legal and legitimate. What our armed forces did was the least punishment for the usurping Zionist regime over the astonishing crimes of this wolf-like regime and rabid dog of America," he said.

Ayatollah Khamenei, “Whatever duty the Islamic Republic has in this regard, it will fulfill with strength and fortitude. We will neither delay nor hurry in carrying out the task."

“What is logical and reasonable and the opinion of the political and military decision makers will be done in the future if necessary just like it was done” on Tuesday, he added.

The prayer in Tehran followed a commemoration ceremony for Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Ayatollah Khamenei last led Friday prayers in January 2020 after Iran fired missiles at a US army base in Iraq, in response to a strike that martyred anti-terror commander Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani.

Ayatollah Khamenei described Nasrallah "my brother, my dear and my pride, the beloved face of the Islamic world, and the eloquent voice of the nations of the region, [and] the shining jewel of Lebanon".

“I felt it necessary to pay tribute to Mr. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (May God bless him and grant him peace) in the Friday prayer in Tehran, and to convey some notifications to everyone,” the Leader said.

“The audience of this sermon is the whole Islamic world, but it is specially addressed to the dear nation of Lebanon and Palestine.

“We are all saddened and mournful for the martyrdom of Dear Sayyed. This is a great loss and we are deeply saddened, but our mourning does not mean depression, distress and despair.

“It is a kind of mourning for the Master of Martyrs Hussein ibn Ali. It is enlivening, instructive, motivating, and hopeful,” the Leader said, referring to Imam Hussein (AS), the third Imam of Shia Muslims.

Ayatollah Khamenei said though Nasrallah's body has left this world, “his true personality, his soul, his way, and his expressive voice are still among us and will be with us forever”.

“He was the high flag of resistance against oppressive and predatory demons - an eloquent voice and a brave defender of the oppressed. He was a source of encouragement and valor for fighters and rights seekers. His popularity and influence had gone beyond Lebanon, Iran and Arab countries, and now his martyrdom will increase this influence.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said all Muslims are bound to “pay their debt to the wounded and bloody Lebanon”.

“Hezbollah and the Martyr Sayyed, by defending Gaza and Jihad for Al-Aqsa Mosque and striking the usurping and tyrannical regime, took a step in the path of vital service to the entire region and the entire Islamic world,” the Leader said.

The relentless defense of the Lebanese people for the Palestinians, he said, is “legal, reasonable, logical and legitimate, and no one has the right to criticize them for entering this battle”.

By the same token, the Al-Aqsa Storm operation of Palestinian fighters inside the Israeli occupied territories in October 2023 was “right and internationally legal”, he added.

“The Palestinian nation has the right to stand against the aggressors, and no court has the right to protest to the Palestinian nation for standing against the usurping enemy of Palestine.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said the adamance of the US and its allies on protecting Israel is a “cover for the deadly policy of turning the usurping regime into their tool to take over all the resources of this region and use it in major global conflicts”.

“Their policy is to turn the regime into a gateway for the export of energy from the region to the Western world and the import of goods and technology from the West to the region.

“This tells us that every attack on the regime by anyone and every group is a service to the entire region and to the entire humanity.

“This Zionist and American dream is definitely a false and impossible fantasy. The regime is the evil tree uprooted from the earth, which according to divine truth has no abode,” he added.

The Zionist regime, the Leader said, has kept itself afloat simply by being injected American support, adding the situation will not last long.

“Today, the Zionist criminal gang itself has come to the conclusion that they will never win over Hamas and Hezbollah."

The Leader called on Muslims to unite against the world’s arrogant powers and transgressors who are still following their policy of divide and conquer with all kinds of tricks in the Islamic states.

“The policy of the Qur'an is that Muslim nations and groups should have solidarity, and if you have this solidarity, divine wisdom will support you and you will overcome all obstacles and win over all enemies."

The Leader said the time has come for the Islamic Ummah to overcome the plots of the enemies.

"The enemy of the Iranian nation is the same enemy of the Palestinian nation, the Lebanese nation, the Iraqi nation, the Egyptian nation, the Syrian nation and the Yemeni nation. The enemy is one.”

Bengaluru, Sep 28: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing charges against arrested Karnataka BJP MLA N. Munirathna Naidu, including allegations of rape, honey-trapping, and other offences, on Saturday conducted raids at his residence and 15 other locations across the city.

Sources confirmed that the raids were taking place at his Vyalikaval residence and other properties owned by the BJP MLA. The operation is being conducted by the SIT under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) led by ACP Kavitha.

The team is examining documents, electronic devices, and other materials related to the rape and honey-trapping case. The SIT is being supported by experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), with Superintendent of Police (SP) Sowmya Latha also participating in the search and inspection at Munirathna’s Vyalikaval residence.

According to sources, the raids were triggered by information provided by the victim, who alleged that Munirathna recorded footage of sexual assaults and used it to blackmail politicians and public servants, including IAS and IPS officers.

The victim reportedly revealed that she was used to entrap the woman who had lodged a rape case against a senior IFS officer. She was allegedly instructed to frame the rape victim in a drug peddling case.

The complainant told police that she was tasked with capturing compromising videos of the rape victim who had filed the case against the IFS officer. She claimed that, after several failed attempts to obtain the videos, the victim was drugged with sleeping pills, and obscene footage was recorded without her consent. Later, the IFS officer was bailed out from the charges.

Furthermore, the complainant has accused MLA Munirathna of raping her at his office within the state legislature, in his official vehicle, and at his godown. She has alleged that he recorded videos of these assaults.

Police sources also revealed that the victim in the MLA's case provided details of a plot involving sending HIV-infected women to Munirathna's targets in an attempt to ruin them politically and personally. She also disclosed the names of several politicians whom she had entrapped through honey-trapping.

The woman further claimed that Munirathna had threatened to have her son kidnapped and killed if she refused to comply with his demands. According to her, the MLA had a well-organised team dedicated to carrying out these honey-trapping operations, and she provided details about his close associates and relatives involved in the scheme.

Munirathna, who was in judicial custody following his arrest in the rape and honey-trap case, has now been taken into the custody of the SIT.

The MLA was transferred from Bengaluru Central Jail to the CID office on the night of September 24. The BJP legislator, however, has denied all the allegations, claiming they are false.

Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Suresh had alleged that Munirathna was trying to infect his adversaries with HIV and that the government should investigate the matter.