ISRAEL STRIKES BACK AGAINST IRAN

Israel has launched a bold attack against Iran, however it failed to deter the country or any of its allies in the Middle East.

The attack on April 19 came in response to the April 13-14 Iranian missile and drone strikes on Israel, which was a retaliation to an Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at the beginning of the month.

Iranian media reported the interception of at least three small drones over Eighth Shekari air base near the city of Isfahan.

In addition to the drones, which were reportedly launched from within Iran, the Israeli military used three never-seen-before air-launched ballistic missiles at the air base. The first stages of the missiles fell in central Iraq.

Israeli strikes hit several air defense sites in southern Syria during the attack, leading to speculation that Israeli warplanes launched their missiles from some area along the country’s border with Jordan or Iraq.

The main target of the attack was an air defense site housing one of Iran’s S-300PMU2 long-range systems within Eighth Shekari air base. Satellite images showed some burn marks near the fire control radar of the system.

The targeted air defense site is reportedly responsible for the protection of the nearby heavily-fortified Natanz nuclear facility.

Israel didn’t acknowledge the attack, neither was officially blamed for it by Iran.

The next day, April 20, an explosion rocked the Kalso military base in the central Iraqi province of Babylon which is used by the Iran-allied Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). At least one person was killed and eight others were wounded. The U.S. denied responsibility, while some Iraqi sources said that it was the result of an Israeli attack.

In a response to the suspected attack, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), which has links to the PMF, struck the southernmost Israeli city of Eilat with a suicide drone late on April 20.

On April 21 and 22 there were two attacks against U.S. bases near the town of Kharab al-Jir in the northeastern Syrian governorate of al-Hasakah and at Ain al-Assad in western Iraqi province of al-Anbar. They were the first attacks against American forces since February. The IRI was blamed.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah also escalated its operations against Israel, shooting down a Hermes-450 combat drone over Lebanon on April 22 and attacking a key base near the northern city of Akko with suicide drones on April 23.

Overall, the Israeli attack has clearly failed to send a strong message to Iran. The results of the attack are questionable, and Tehran allies were not deterred. Now, Israel will likely escalate against the Hamas Movement and other factions in the Gaza Strip to make up for this failure. There are already reports of a U.S. green light for an attack on the heavily-populated city of Rafah in the southernmost part of the Palestinian enclave.

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