The Israeli authorities
are debating this Sunday what response to give to the Iranian attack
with drones and missiles that last night raised alarm bells throughout the country, although it only caused minor damage to an Air Force base and injured a girl, who was hit by a shrapnel.
Although some far-right members of the coalition government have called for a forceful response from the Jewish State, the truth is that Israel's main military ally, the United States, has made it clear that it will not support an escalation in the Middle East.
"At the moment we have no intention of prolonging our military operations
," said Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, responding at a press conference to a question about whether or not they wanted to react to Iran's attack.
"We are prepared, we are monitoring all theaters in the region and evaluating each scenario, but for the moment we do not intend to prolong our military operations. Our role is to safeguard the Israelis," the spokesperson explained.
"We remain on alert, we have approved offensive and defensive plans, we will continue to protect the State of Israel and build a more stable future for the region. Iran is not only a threat to Israel but to the entire region," Hagari added.
"We don't want a broader war with Iran
," said one of the White House spokespersons, John Kirby, in an interview, insisting that US President Joe Biden does not want Washington to become even more involved in the conflict.
The support of US aviation last night was one of the key points that allowed Israel and its allies to neutralize the vast majority of the more than 300 drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles launched from Iran in retaliation for a bombing in Syria in which Several members of the Revolutionary Guard died and that Tehran attributes to the Jewish State.
The Israeli Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, thanked the US Army for its cooperation in intercepting the drones in a message this Sunday and told the head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), Erik Kurilla,
that both forces showed their strength. .
A forceful answer
Despite calls for containment, several Israeli ministers today called for a strong response from their country to the attack.
The Minister of Finance
, the settler and radical Bezalel Smotrich, said in a speech recorded on the social network
"will resonate throughout the Middle East for generations to come."
That way "we will win," Smotrich said, but "if we ignore it, Lord forbid, we will put ourselves and our children in an immediate existential threat," he added.
For his part, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, also anti-Arab and inhabitant of a settlement in the occupied West Bank, said that Israel
"has to go crazy"
to "create deterrence in the Middle East."
Ben Gvir affirmed that since the Hamas attack on October 7, which left 1,200 dead on Israeli soil, the country exercises new doctrines of containment and proportionality, and that Israel's response cannot be "weak, in the style of the bombing of the dunes that we have seen in Gaza in previous years.
The Minister of Culture and Sports, Miki Zohar, also stated that
"a lax response"
would only serve to continue the "obsolete concept of reasonable logic in the face of brutal terrorists" and noted that this concept already "failed" against Hamas before the 7th. October and against Hezbollah, which continues its attacks in northern Israel, and warned that it "will fail against Iran, which did not hesitate to attack Israel directly.
For his part, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in an interview on Sky News that Israel
is "considering all options.
At the moment we have no intention of prolonging our military operations," said Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari
nes"
to respond to Iran's attack, which he described as a "declaration of war."
“This is a declaration of war,” he said of the attack. “Now, because we are restrained and because we know the repercussions, and because we have deliberations with our partners, we are considering all options and I am quite confident that we will take the necessary measures to protect and defend our people.
“We are not war seekers.”
“It is time for the world to confront this evil empire in Tehran and make it clear to the Iranian regime that this cannot be ignored, that it is unacceptable,” adds Herzog.
Iran warns
The Iranian authorities, who have ended the attacks against Israeli territory, have warned that an Israeli action against Iran would have a more forceful response.
"Iran's sky is not safe for aggressors and if the enemy makes a mistake in his calculations and violates our country's airspace,
he will be met with deadly and fiery blows from the country's air defense systems
," he warned. the deputy commander of the Khatam al Anbiya air defense base, Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh, according to the state agency IRNA.
These statements come hours after the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran announced the suspension of flights from several airports throughout the country, including Imam Khomeini International in the Iranian capital, until early Monday morning.
Source: AFP and ANSA
P.B.