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 Abir Sultan/AFP via Getty ImagesThe Israeli military's chief of staff Herzi Halevi told troops on Monday that Israel "will respond" to Iran's drone and missile attack as the threat of open warfare between the countries looms.
The announcement comes as Israel's war cabinet convened for a second day to deliberate a retaliation strategy in response to a spate of attacks on Saturday evening, when Iran launched over 300 missiles and drones at Israel. The attack was largely thwarted, according to Israeli forces, who intercepted the strikes with help from the United States, Jordan, the U.K., and France.
Tehran's attack—conducted as punishment for the assassination of a top Iranian commander killed in a strike on a Syrian embassy in recent days—injured a child, but otherwise caused moderate damage.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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The foreign secretary is urging Israel to be "smart as well as tough" as it considers its response.
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The Middle East is bracing for the possibility of regional war after Iran responded to Israel's bombing of the Iranian Consulate in Damascus with a major drone and missile attack Saturday. The attack caused little damage inside Israel, as it intercepted nearly all of the drones and missiles with help from the United States, Britain, France and Jordan. Iran's government described the attack as a defensive maneuver after Israel's unprovoked strike on its embassy killed some of Iran's top military brass. This was "a performative operation to send a message," says journalist Reza Sayah, who joins us from Tehran. But while Iran "does not want to escalate matters," Israel may be preparing to do just that. Washington, D.C.-based analyst Trita Parsi says that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been trying to instigate conflict between the U.S. and Iran for "more than two decades," and given that Biden has demonstrated an unwillingness to "draw any red lines for Israel publicly," these latest provocations could become a prime "opportunity" for such a war. Crucially, Iranian restraint "cannot last forever," warns our final roundtable guest, the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who touches on both Iran's own sovereignty and increasing global pressure for Israel to end its war on Gaza. "Gaza is still starving and bleeding, and we shouldn't forget it," says Levy.
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