Iran has responded. And, it did not come as a surprise. A barrage of drones and missiles were launched towards Israel on Saturday night – the first direct confrontation between the two bitter rivals.
More than 300 drones and missiles were fired into Israel to avenge the Israeli airstrike on Iran’s Damascus consular annexe earlier this month. This happened a day after Israel-owned ship was seized by Iran from the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran was not alone in its attack on Israel. The Houthis in Yemen launched their own drones and Hezollah in Lebanon fired katyusha rockets into the Golan Heights.
As per Israeli claims, 99 per cent of the drones and missiles were destroyed midair after its Iron Dome got activated. According to Iran, it struck a military base in Israel’s Negev Desert and inflicted considerable damage.
The US had announced that Iranian attack on Israel would come sooner than later, and to defend its ally, America deployed military aircraft and ballistic missile defence destroyers to the Middle East.
However US President Joe Biden now wants a de-escalation and has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would oppose an Israeli counterattack against Iran.
Iranian mission in the United Nations had earlier warned the US to stay away and not become party in its conflict with Israel.
The mission justified Iranian action, saying that it was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against their diplomatic building in Damascus.
It further stated that the attack was ‘conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defence’.
Earlier, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon had closed their airspace in anticipation of the Iranian attack on Israel.
From how things are moving at the moment, and with Iran saying that its operation has concluded and warning Israel from retaliating, the US is now stressing on the Jewish state to show restraint.
America knows that if the situation deteriorates further, its assets in the region would become legitimate targets of the Iranians.
The Iran-backed groups in Iraq would launch attacks on American forces stationed there while the Houthis would continue to target American and Israeli vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Therefore, the US would not want to take the risk, especially at a time when the presidential elections are set to be held by the end of this year.
Already lagging behind, Biden would be questioned for his handling of the Gaza conflict. Many of his Muslim supporters have distanced themselves from him.
Under such circumstances, neither the US nor its western allies would take the risk of attacking Iran.
Netanyahu, on the other hand, would have other plans up his sleeves. Facing corruption charges and protests, prolonging the Gaza conflict and directly involving Iran in it would help him divert the attention from domestic issues.
