"The Zionist regime [Israel] will soon receive a strong and definite response, and there is no doubt about it," said Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief commander of Iran's army, on Wednesday. "It is clear that they themselves have realized the speed of their own destruction, and by doing so, they want to save themselves from the quagmire, but they definitely cannot save themselves from annihilation."

Iranian officials said similar things back in April, before Israel and Iran exchanged strikes which did little damage and seemed more symbolic than designed to spiral into war. But right now the entire region—specifically, Iran and its proxies—appears to be on the brink of retaliation directed toward Israel, which took out Fuad Shukr, one of Hezbollah's top military commanders, and Ismail Haniyeh, one of Hamas' top political leaders. Israel claims it assassinated Shukr in retaliation for a rocket attack from Hezbollah that killed 12 kids. (The killing of Haniyeh probably needs no explanation, given the events of October 7, in which Hamas came into Israel and murdered 1,200 in the single most brutal day of carnage Israel has ever seen.)

Airlines will divert some of their routes around both Iranian and Lebanese airspace, with Egypt instructing all of its airlines to avoid Iranian airspace early this morning local time.

Israel's security cabinet plans to convene tonight to prepare for the nation's defense in the event of an attack from Iran and/or its proxies. And, on Friday, the U.S. reported that it had "ordered more combat aircraft and warships capable of shooting down missiles and drones to the Middle East in response to the threats from Iran and its allies," reports The New York Times.

Internally, Hamas has replaced Haniyeh with Yahya Sinwar, one of the chief architects of the horrific October 7 pogrom. Sinwar is believed to be hiding in the tunnels below Gaza and has arguably been more influential in crafting Hamas' strategy than Haniyeh was.