Israel says Iran behind embassy attacks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, February 13 blamed Iran for attacks on Israeli embassy staff in Georgia and India that wounded at least two people, one of them an Israeli woman, AFP reported.

The Israeli leader said there had been a number of attempts to harm Israelis and Jews in recent months, in places such as Thailand and Azerbaijan, in a series of attacks co-ordinated by Tehran and Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah.

His remarks were made shortly after a car outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi exploded in a ball of fire, injuring two people, one of whom was an Israeli woman, Netanyahu said.

Separately, the Georgian interior ministry confirmed that police in the capital Tbilisi had defused an explosive device found in the car of an Israeli embassy employee.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the attacks proved that Israelis both at home and abroad were "a target for terrorists."

The attacks came between the anniversaries of the deaths of two top Hezbollah militants, Imad Mughniyeh and Abbas Mussawi, which spark annual travel warnings from the Israeli government.

The deaths of both men were blamed on Israel and sparked vows of revenge from Hezbollah, which has close ties with Iran.