Israel launches retaliatory military strikes on Iran

The Israeli army responded to a Iranian missile attack by carrying out “precision strikes on military targets in Iran” on Friday, in a move that appeared to push the Middle East into a more dangerous and multi-fronted new phase of conflict a year after Hamas. The attacks of October 7 on Israel.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have relentlessly attacked Israel since October 7 – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Friday. “Like any other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and duty to respond.”

Israel said its “defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized.”

In Washington, the White House National Security Council issued a brief statement on news of Israel’s response.

“It is our understanding that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as a self-defense exercise and in response to Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack against Israel,” spokesman Sean Savett said.

He addressed other questions to the Israeli government.

Israel’s operation came after Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on October 1, in what Tehran described as retaliation for the killing by Israel. Hassan Nasrallah and other top Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon. Most of Iran’s missiles have been intercepted with the help of the US military. A Palestinian was killed in the West Bank.

An all-out war between enemies Israel and Iran has been threatened for decades.

But the two regional powers were caught in an escalating spiral after Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel last year, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251. Israel responded by launching a war in the Gaza Strip that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, devastated. in Gaza and triggered an increase in military action against Israel by groups that Iran trains, finances and arms to advance its interests.

These groups, sometimes referred to as Iran’s “axis of resistance,” include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and various militias in Iraq. Among their common interests with Iran are opposition to the state of Israel and a desire to drive Western powers, particularly American troops, out of the Middle East.

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Iran launched a barrage of over 300 missiles and drones in Israel in April. Along with the US and its Western allies, Israel has brought down almost all of them. During the summer, the political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by a bomb hidden in the wall of a government guest house in Tehran. Israel is believed to be behind the assassination.

Yahya Sinwarthe elusive Hamas leader believed to be the mastermind behind the group brutal attack on Israel last year, was killed last week during an Israeli military operation in Gaza. His body was found in the rubble of a building. DNA tests confirmed his identity.

In recent days, Israel launched what it characterized as a “limited” ground operation inside Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah’s weapons and infrastructure. Israel’s new strikes on Iran mean it is effectively waging a multi-front war against a network of state and non-state actors spread across four countries: Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

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chairman Joe Biden ordered the US military to aid Israel in its defense, a move that some national security experts believe risks dragging the US into a war in the Middle East.

Rosemary Kelanic, Middle East director at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank that advocates for a smaller US global military footprint, said the recent build-up of more US troops in the region has “only encouraged the degree of power of Israel and increased the risk of a war with Iran. it serves no American interest.”

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Kelanic said that “if the past 20 years of failed politics have taught us nothing else, the conflict in the Middle East is quicksand.

“We will do whatever is necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel,” the IDF said in its statement.