The balance in the Middle East hangs by a thin thread as it is now certain that Israel will not leave unanswered the attack it received with missiles and drones from Iran between midnight Saturday and early Sunday.
Following the conclusion of Israel’s second war council the decisions are “locked” and it remains to be seen how it will choose to strike Israel, the timing of the strike and its severity with the international community appealing for restraint for fear of a generalized conflagration .
Indicative of the criticality of the moment is that Netanyahu also informed the opposition about the next moves. Israel’s goal is to hit Iran without provoking a general war, Israel’s Channel 12 television network reported.
At the same time, the Wall Street Journal reported in its report that American and Western officials expect Israel to respond quickly to Iran’s attack, possibly even today.
However, officials expressed hope that both Iran and Israel will be able to break out of this cycle of tension, as both will be able to declare themselves victorious enough to be given an exit to avoid further escalation.
“The Israeli army is ready”
Israel will respond to the attack launched by Iran with drones and missiles against its territory, the chief of the Israeli National Defense General Staff said tonight.
“Firing so many missiles and drones against Israeli soil will be responded to,” General Herchi Halevi said during his visit to the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, which was hit during the Iranian attack on Saturday night into Sunday.
Iran attempted to justify the attack, citing the “right to self-defense” after an attack attributed to Israel on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, in which seven Iranian officers were killed.
Will Israel strike Iran’s nukes?
The possible scenarios that have been formed for Israel to strike Iran are:
- At missile/drone launch sites, a strike on Iran’s air defenses is also being considered, even with F-35 fighters.
- The nightmare scenario is to hit key facilities, even nuclear plants.
He warns Iran
Iran does not want to escalate tensions but will respond immediately and more forcefully than before if Israel retaliates, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told his British counterpart today, according to Iranian state media.
Diplomatic fever
The US is not “seeking escalation” but will continue to defend Israel following Iran’s attack on the Jewish state, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said today.
“We are not seeking escalation but we will continue to defend Israel and protect our forces in the region,” the head of US diplomacy said at the start of his meeting with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Tamim.
“I think this weekend showed that Israel does not have to defend itself when it is the victim of aggression…” he said, condemning the Iranian attack as “unprecedented in scope and scale”, the first direct attack by Iran on Israel.
The US Secretary of State spoke again of intense diplomatic activity “in the last 36 hours, with the aim of coordinating a diplomatic response to try to prevent escalation” in the region. The head of US diplomacy met with his counterparts from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Britain and Germany, according to the State Department.
For his part, Ali Tamim said that Baghdad called on all parties involved to show restraint. “The Iraqi government warns that the escalation in the region will evolve into a wider war that will threaten international security,” he said.
At the same time, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, contacted today the head of the National Security Council of Israel, Tchai Hanegbi, to discuss the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, as reported by the Reuters news agency citing the Russian Interfax.
Among other things, Nikolai Patrushev stressed that all sides must show restraint in order to prevent further escalation of the conflict.
Earlier today, the Kremlin expressed strong concern over escalating tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s massive drone and missile attack against Israel.
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