Israel figuring out its response to Iran
Israel says it will respond soon to Iran’s recent attack.
The Jewish New Year ends at sunset. It will be interesting to see how the next few days play out. Netanyahu made it clear Iran has made a mistake and it is going to pay.
Now what they are doing in coordination with the Americans is trying to figure out what targets to hit. The US says the response need to be proportionate, which means it should be military bases because that is what Iran targeted. But we don’t know whether he sticks to that or whether he goes for more.
Iran said if Israel hits, it is going to hit Israel much harder than before.
Full-blown conflict between Iran and Israel may not be ‘inevitable’
Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Doha, says there is “tremendous concern” in Iran over how Israel will respond to Tuesday’s missile attack.
“A couple of days ago, after Iran’s attack, we saw long lines in Tehran and in other Iranian cities for people lining up at petrol stations trying to fill up their cars,” he told Al Jazeera. “There’s concern that Israel might knock off the electricity grid or Iran’s oil installations.”
Kamrava said groups in Iran are divided over how to respond if or when Israel retaliates.
“There are groups inside the political establishment that want to expand the war and make sure that American targets in the region are hit,” he said. “And there are those who say, ‘Let’s not alienate our allies or our newly found friends in Riyadh, in Abu Dhabi, and elsewhere.'”
Kamrava added that a full-blown conflict between Iran and Israel may not be “inevitable”.
“Iran … does have a doctrine of what they call ‘strategic patience‘,” he said. “They say we will respond at a time of our own choosing.” “Iran has been quite reluctant to fall for the Israeli trap of engaging Israel and then the United States directly.”
Israeli military preparing for major attacks on Iran, Lebanon, Gaza
The Israeli military is preparing for large-scale assaults on multiple fronts, according to its public broadcaster Kan and other Israeli media.
The army is aiming for a “significant and difficult” attack on Iran in response to its launch of ballistic missiles on Israel, which had come in retaliation for the assassination of top Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian officials.
Israeli authorities are said to expect their Western allies, who also oppose Iranian influence, to participate in the attack. This comes as General Michael Kurilla, the head of the US military in the region, is expected to arrive in Israel today to discuss the operation.
In Gaza, the Israeli military is planning for “intense manoeuvres”, especially around the Netzarim Corridor, as the war approaches the one-year mark.
Operations in Lebanon will “take place as often as necessary” and what the army has described as a “limited” operation in south Lebanon is set to expand, according to Israeli reports. More than 2,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war last year.
