Israel seeks response to Iranian missile and drone attacks

Tel-Aviv

“I had the oppressive impression of experiencing a bad thriller film live,” says Haïm Levi, a fifty-year-old engineer from Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv. Like all Israelis, he experienced a moment of anxiety in front of his television during the night from Saturday to Sunday. Early in the evening, the army spokesperson announced that, according to information from the American army, hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones had been fired towards Israeli territory and that the impacts would occur shortly. “I was completely panicked. Usually, when Hamas fires rockets from the Gaza Strip, sirens go off a few minutes before they hit. But this time, we had to live for several hours knowing that the danger was getting closer, while praying that the IDF would intercept the missiles and drones before they sowed death,” adds Meitail Shasha, store manager. flowers in Tel Aviv.

Everyone then breathed a sigh of relief, in the middle of the night, when the army spokesperson announced that 99% of the missiles fired by Iran had been destroyed in flight thanks to the four air defense systems or planes. combat even before entering Israeli airspace. Fear was then followed by a euphoric feeling of victory. “No country in the world could have achieved such success,” says Gilad Cohen, a student who has just completed a reserve period in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

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The military spokesperson then took stock of the situation: all 170 drones as well as 30 cruise missiles fired by the Iranians were shot down in time. Only ten ballistic missiles out of 120 managed to infiltrate and caused minor damage to the Nevatim air base, located in the south of the country. The media immediately presented this assessment as a “historic success” for Israeli high technology. Note, however, that 70 of the missiles fired by the Iranians were destroyed in flight by the Americans, the British and the Jordanians.

After these hours of extreme tension, a return to normal occurred. Israeli airspace, which had been closed for seven hours, reopened on Sunday afternoon. The closure of schools actually has only limited consequences due to students' vacation for Pessah, the Jewish Passover. The ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people, particularly during anti-government demonstrations, should be quickly lifted.

Also read: The first lessons of Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel

On the military level, the war cabinet met on Sunday afternoon. According to army radio, Benjamin Netanyahu has several options, but above all must resolve a dilemma. It can give the green light to massive retaliations on Iranian territory, including against nuclear installations, or choose “low intensity” retaliations, commensurate with the very limited damage caused during the Iranian aggression. If this last option is chosen, it should result in bombings in Lebanon against Hezbollah, Iran's faithful ally, air raids in Syria targeting Iranian soldiers stationed in this country, on the model of elimination, on April 1, of a leader of the Revolutionary Guards killed in an air attack attributed to Israel. This operation is at the origin of the Iranian attack this weekend.

The only certainty: the United States is urging Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid at all costs triggering an uncontrolled escalation that would plunge the entire region into war. Apparently, the message is starting to get through five out of five. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned in a statement that “Iran must pay the price for its aggression”, without specifying what the tariff applied would be.

Israel Katz, the head of diplomacy, after making martial remarks, qualified them by explaining that before acting “all considerations will be taken into account and, if necessary, broader consultations will take place ". The reference to discussions with the United States is clear. However, it is not certain that all ministers listen to this “voice of reason”.

According to media reports, several members of the government belonging to the extreme right are in favor of hitting Iran very hard. If only to keep Israel's deterrent force intact and not show signs of weakness that would benefit Iran, its allies, but also Hamas, which, by chance of the calendar, rejected on Sunday, according to Mossad, an American proposal aimed at freeing the 133 hostages kidnapped by the Palestinian Islamist movement during the bloody incursion on October 7 in southern Israel, in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

According to Israeli media, the American president refused to give carte blanche to Benjamin Netanyahu. He thus asked him to show moderation and to be content with the “victory” represented by the in-flight interception of swarms of missiles and drones. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also warned Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that the US had no intention of participating in a war against Iran. In other words, Washington does not want to find itself drawn into a regional conflict likely to have catastrophic consequences.

The Americans also insist on being warned of military initiatives that Israel could take, if only so as not to be taken by surprise and to have time to strengthen the protection of American bases scattered across the Middle East.

On a strictly military level, Israel has the means to strike Iran very hard. The Jewish state's arsenal includes squadrons of F-35s, American planes equipped with the latest technology capable of reaching Iranian territory, several submarines equipped with missiles, some of which are believed to cruise off the coast. Iranians, long-range Jericho-type missiles, which could, according to foreign experts, be equipped with nuclear warheads and a swarm of suicide drones.

These latest devices proved their worth on the ground in 2022 when a base where drones were stored in the western part of Iran was attacked with these unmanned devices.