This week, Iran launched a barrage of just about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, in response to a sequence of assassinations carried out by Israel towards Iranian army leaders and senior members of the Iran-backed teams Hamas and Hezbollah. The assault got here days after an enormous Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in Beirut and the identical week that Israel started a restricted floor invasion of southern Lebanon.
Following the missile assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “Iran made a giant mistake tonight,” whereas promising that the Islamic Republic “pays.” An array of U.S. elected officers and policymakers expressed their help for Israel. Sen. Lindsey Graham referred to as on the administration of President Joe Biden to coordinate “an awesome response with Israel.” For his half, Biden asserted that the U.S. is “absolutely, absolutely, absolutely supportive of Israel.” Whereas Israel has not but taken motion, its response is imminent, and lots of anticipate that it’ll present much less restraint than it did again in April, when the 2 sides additionally traded tit-for-tat missile and air strikes.
I wrote again in mid-August that there was a declining danger of the conflict in Gaza increasing right into a regional battle. I stood by that evaluation following subsequent rocket exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah again in late August. However in mild of this week’s occasions, my argument must be reconsidered.
