The clash between Israel and the Palestinians – and other teams in the Middle East – goes back decades. These stories provide context for existing breakthroughs and the story that led to them.
Israel smuggled missiles into Iran early Friday from the retaliatory strike it had promised (and Western leaders had tried to reassure) following Tehran’s attack on Israel on Sunday.
A senior U. S. military official told NPR that the Israeli military had carried out missile moves against Iran. But little is known about the scale of the movements and potential damage, as Israel and Iran gave the impression of downplaying Friday morning’s attack, which analysts say is indicative of an effort to reduce regional tensions.
“It’s a very damaging moment, but I think Israel did the smartest thing imaginable under those circumstances,” Gen. Frank McKenzie, a retired commander of U. S. Central Command, told Morning Edition. “No one knows exactly what happened and maybe, maybe, as a result, we’ll avoid any meaningful escalation options. “
Details about the attack remain scarce. Citing an army officer in the central city of Isfahan, Iran’s official IRNA news firm said the loud noises heard nearby were those of air defenses intercepting a “suspicious target,” with no injuries reported in the area.
Isfahan is home to several military installations, as well as Iran’s largest nuclear study complex. The International Atomic Energy Agency showed on social media that the nuclear facilities had been damaged.
Explosions have also been reported in Iraq and Syria. Syria’s official news firm, SANA, said Israel had air defense sites in its southern region, causing “material damage. “
World leaders are calling for a de-escalation of the conflict and continued efforts to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in hopes of avoiding a wider regional clash.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told the Morning Edition that by downplaying the attack, Iran appears to have figured out a way to execute the retaliation it had promised in the event of an Israeli attack, at least for now.
“Considering the cases we’re in, it’s possible it could have been much worse,” Parsi added. “But it’s not over yet, so we shouldn’t draw too big conclusions just yet. “
The reaction to the measures turns out to be muted in both countries.
In Iran, state television mocked the attack and social media posted mocking memes. Iran temporarily suspended flights at the country’s airports but resumed them on Friday morning.
Israel’s front-end command system, which sends risk alerts to civilians, has a higher level of risk. The country has suspended flights, but German airline Lufthansa announced Friday morning that it would suspend flights to Israel and Iraq until at least Saturday morning due to the “current situation. “(It had already suspended flights to Tehran until the end of April. )
Israeli officials remained largely silent after the attack (the Washington Post reports they were silent) with a few notable exceptions.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of national security, tweeted a single word (in Hebrew jargon, “weak”) to criticize the attack.
Iranian news firm Tasnim seized on the comment: the Israeli government was “making a fool of itself. “Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called the tweet “unforgivable” and Ben-Gvir had embarrassed Israel “from Tehran to Washington. “
The tension sparked by Ben-Gvir’s tweet sums up the fervor of debate in Israel and beyond over how the country responds to the Iranian attack, the first against Israel from its own soil.
The Middle East has been on the brink of a wider confrontation since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, an attack that Israel says killed another 1,200 people and took about 250 more hostage. Subsequent Israeli army operations in Gaza killed more than 34,000 people. , according to the territory’s health authorities.
Bottom line: Iran supports three key militant groups involved in the current conflict: Hamas, Hezbollah (which exchanges fire with Israel across its northern border with Lebanon), and the Houthis, who have attacked foreign advertising ships in the Red Region in recent times. months.
Iran also backs the regime of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, which Israel says will send weapons to Hezbollah. Military jets bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus earlier this month, in an attack that Iran says killed at least seven officials. Israel has proven nothing. nor denied responsibility, but Iran blamed Israel and threatened retaliation.
In response, Iran fired shipments of drones and missiles at Israel on Sunday. The vast majority were intercepted, along with those from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Jordan.
Since then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressured by far-right members of his war cabinet to respond temporarily and decisively in Iran, and by the United States and other Western leaders to tread cautiously in the face of a wider regional war.
McKenzie believes Israel has hit the nail on the head with its response, signaling to Iran that “we’re not going to try to escalate things here” but that “we can do it on a much larger scale. “
U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Italy for a scheduled assembly of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). He responded when asked about the Israeli attack.
“The U. S. has been concerned about any offensive operation,” he said. “What are we focusing on, what is the G7 focusing on. . . That is our task: to reduce tensions. “
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who chaired the G7 meeting, said on Friday that the United States had said it had received “breaking news” from Israel about drone action in Iran.
Such confusing warnings are not an unusual practice for Israel, which has not shared any detailed military plans (only outlines) for its operations in Gaza since October. A senior official told NPR that Israel told the U. S. only the day before the consulate attack that it was preparing an operation in Damascus and did not supply main points until the next day.
The White House has commented on this publicly.
The United States and the United Kingdom on Thursday imposed a new sanctions circular on Iran in reaction to its attack over the weekend. President Biden said at the time that the sanctions were aimed at expanding economic pressure on Iran and restricting its “destabilizing” military programs.
“Let it be transparent to all those who enable Iranian attacks: The United States is committed to Israel’s security,” he said. “We are committed to protecting our staff and partners in the region. And we will not hesitate to take all mandatory measures to hold him accountable. “
Foreign leaders, from China to the United Kingdom, Russia and Australia, are calling on Israel and Iran to de-escalate tensions and establish a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry expressed “deep fear over the continued escalation between Israel and Iran” and called for the “highest levels” of restraint, according to a statement translated to the Washington Post. Turkish officials have made similar calls, though they obviously blame Israel’s “illegal attack. “” at the Iranian consulate.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, told the G7 assembly that existing EU sanctions against Iran would be tightened to punish Tehran and prevent long-term attacks on Israel, the Associated Press reports. But he also suggested that Israel exercise restraint.
“I don’t need to exaggerate, but we are on the brink of a war, a regional war in the Middle East, which is going to send shockwaves to the rest of the world, and especially to Europe,” he warned. So avoid this. “
U. N. Secretary-General António Guterres’ spokesman said in a statement that he believed “it was high time to prevent the damaging cycle of retaliation in the Middle East” and called on “foreign networks to work together to prevent any further progress that could have devastating consequences for the entire region and beyond. “