Iran’s Drone and Missile Attack on Israel: A Comparison with Iraq’s Second Gulf War Strikes

The attack that Iran launched last Saturday night with drones and missiles was the first of its kind against Israel by a country in the region since the missile strikes launched by Iraq during the Second Gulf War more than three decades ago.

How were the circumstances, motives, goals and attitudes different in the two cases?

On January 17, 1991, the “Second Gulf War” began, when international coalition forces led by the United States carried out air and ground military operations against Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

On January 18, 1991, that is, just one day after the war began, the president of Iraq at the time, Saddam Hussein, went ahead to threaten to attack Israel if the his country, as the Iraqi army launched about 40 Scud missiles toward Israel in an effort that observers believed at the time was aimed at dragging Israel into the conflict and causing split in the bloc of Arab and Islamic countries that condemned the attack on Kuwait, and a large number of them participated in the military coalition led. by the United States.

The missile targets were located in Tel Aviv, Haifa Port, and the Negev Desert, where the Dimona nuclear reactor is located.

Iran’s consulate in Damascus was hit by an airstrike earlier this month, which killed 13 people, including commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, led by Quds Force chief Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

Israel has not confirmed that it carried out the attack, but it is widely believed to be behind it.

Iran viewed the air strike as a clear Israeli attack against it, and vowed to respond.

This response came on April 13, when ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones were launched at Israel. It was the first time Iran had directly attacked its regional rival, as the two countries have been waging what experts describe as a “shadow war” for years, as each of them usually attacking targets belonging to the other country without admitting responsibility.

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, said the operation, which Iran called “The True Promise,” targeted Israel’s intelligence center north of the Golan and the Israeli headquarters of Nevatim. for F. -35 aircraft in the Negev Desert in southern Israel. Israeli officials said several ballistic missiles caused minor damage to the Nevatim base, but the base is “still operational,” according to Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari.

In 2021, on the thirtieth anniversary of the Iraqi missile attacks on Israel, the Israeli army released part of its archives, which revealed that the Iraqi missile attacks carried out between 18 January and February 25, 1991. 14 deaths and over 200 injuries.

Archived videos released by Israeli media show that buildings were damaged and some factories were set on fire.

The rescue teams treated any Iraqi missiles as chemical, so they wore protective clothing when they went to the sites where these missiles fell.

According to Israeli media, the Iranian operation, which Tehran called “The True Promise”, seriously injured a 7-year-old girl from a Bedouin village in the Negev region. There were no reports of loss of life.

Israel said it was able to intercept 99 percent of Iran’s missiles and drones. This was done with the help of Israel’s allies, led by the United States, where Reuters reported, citing American officials, that it shot down several drones from Iran, and the United Kingdom, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that British Typhoon jets shot down. downed several Iranian drones.

Jordan also said it intercepted flying objects that entered its airspace to ensure the safety of its citizens, and Israel’s military said France helped protect the airspace, but did not it was unclear if she shot down any of the Iranian missiles or drones.

The United States put great diplomatic pressure on Israel to discourage it from making a direct attack on Iraq. Israel agreed not to respond, but in return asked Washington to immediately deploy Patriot anti-ballistic missile defense systems from its European bases to support the missile batteries A patriot that Israel already had.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica: “The effectiveness of Patriot batteries remains an open question, decades after the end of the war. The United States initially boasted that their performance was almost perfect, but the ammunition soon reduced the The US estimated its success rate in intercepting missiles at 40. In fact, Israeli officials and the US Government Accountability Office questioned this modest estimate and said that only less than 10 percent of batteries were successful. Patriot intercept and destroy Scud missiles.

US President Joe Biden renewed his country’s “strong” commitment to preserving Israel’s security, but a senior US administration official said the United States will not participate in any retaliatory strikes launched by Israel. the face of Iran. The official said Biden urged Israel to be cautious in his response, but declined to answer a question about whether the White House had warned Israel against launching an extended attack against Iran. , saying only that it was “a matter of Israeli calculation. .”

Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international affairs editor, says that the Americans want restraint from Israel, and that Biden sent a clear message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying: “Iran was attacked block, and Israel has won, so don’t escalate the issue further by responding with military strikes on Iranian soil.”

As for Israel, it announced that it will respond to the Iranian attack “as it chooses and at the time it chooses.”

There are fears that any extended response from the Israeli government, which is often described as the harshest in the country’s history, will lead to an increase in the tensions that the Middle East has seen since the October 7 attacks that sent the movement Palestine Hamas launched. on Israel and the subsequent attacks A devastating war that Israel says is aimed at eradicating the movement.