Reuters reports: “Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran and its regional allies will not back down from Israel after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Tehran-backed Hezbollah’s slain leader.

Iran raised the stakes when it fired missiles at Israel on Tuesday after its arch-foe assassinated Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure who turned the group into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force with reach across the Middle East. Israel has vowed to respond.

‘The resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders,’ Khamenei said in a rare appearance leading Friday prayers in Tehran, mentioning Nasrallah in his speech and calling its attack on Israel legal and legitimate…”