Israel will now be tempted to retaliate against Iran with far greater force than it did back in April.
At that time, following a volley of around 300 Iranian missiles and drones, launched in response to an Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, there was a concerted international diplomatic effort to restrain Israel from reacting too forcefully.
In the end, Israel carried out a minor but symbolic missile attack on a target close to Iran’s nuclear facilities. It caused little damage but showed Iran it had the reach.
This time may well be different. Israel sees its recent actions around the region as both a deterrent to its enemies and the elimination of the threats it has been facing.
Just as Iran felt it had to respond to the assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and of the Hezbollah leader in September, Israel is unlikely to take this direct attack from Iran lying down.
Its targets could range from Iran’s nuclear facilities to IRGC bases to the launch sites and storage depots from where Tuesday’s missile attack was fired.
