Israel Admits Iran Strikes Damaged Its Airbases

The Israeli military acknowledged, Wednesday, the Iranian missile strike on Tuesday evening caused damage to its air bases, but downplayed its significance and did not disclose their locations.

Israeli Army Radio said several air force bases were damaged in the Iranian attack, but “there was no damage to their infrastructure.”

Israeli news platforms also quoted the military as saying that there were no injuries to aircraft or weapons, and the military denied Iran had fired supersonic missiles in its attack on Israel.

Anadolu Agency quoted an Israeli military source as saying that the missiles “caused damage to administrative buildings (inside the air bases)… in the shell, not in the core.”

The source refused to disclose the damaged sites, saying: “There is no damage to continuity or follow-up plans, and the evidence is that the aircraft landed and took off from all the bases.”

The same source also denied that any Israelis were injured in the Iranian attack.

Targeting Mossad Headquarters

Earlier, the American website Axios quoted an Israeli military official as saying that dozens of Iranian missiles were fired at the headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service (Mossad) in Tel Aviv, but he said none of them fell inside the complex.

Also, CNN said that an analysis of video clips showed that an Iranian missile exploded less than one kilometer from the Mossad headquarters.

Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel, Tuesday evening, in an attack it said was in response to the assassination of the head of the Hamas political bureau  Ismail Haniyeh, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Abbas Nilforoushan.

Following the strike Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned: “if the Zionists make any mistakes, they will receive a stronger and more destructive response.”

Iranian Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri revealed that the strike targeted three main air bases and a Mossad headquarters.

He said among them were the Nevatim base, which houses F-35 fighter jets, and the Hatzerim base, which he said was responsible for the assassination of Nasrallah, adding that the attack targeted radars and a gathering of tanks and armored personnel carriers in the Gaza Strip.

Israel imposes strict media censorship on what is published about its losses, in light of its war on Gaza, which has been ongoing for about a year, and its current attack on Lebanon, which is the largest since the 2006 war according to Al Jazeera.

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Al Duwairi: Attack Shows Strong Iran, Israel’s Intelligence Failure

Military expert Major-General Fayez Al-Duwairi said the latest Iranian attack reflects a new intelligence failure for Israel, stressing it was different from its True Promise attack that took place last April, and reflects seriousness in its response.

The recent attack was carried out from several areas in Iran which reflects good preparation, especially since each batch of the trajectories headed towards specific targets. He noted the missiles used were hypersonic, which reflects Tehran’s seriousness in its response, Al-Duwairi said on Al Jazeera.

The military expert stressed the call by Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari for people to leave the underground shelters a few minutes before the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced the launch of another wave of missiles represents a major intelligence failure on the part of Israel.

Al-Duwairi added this latest attack reflects great coordination for Iran, adding the great silence that preceded the launch is a credit to Tehran as it was different from the attack last April.

Although the results of the strike and its losses are not yet known, Al-Duwairi said the at least 250 missiles cannot but cause losses.

Possibilities of others entering

Israel said it will respond to this attack regardless of the repercussions, while Iran’s UN mission warned any Israeli response to this attack will be met with a devastating response.

The strategic expert pointed out Iran is still committed not to strike any US military bases in Middle East region, and that the Ain al-Assad base was targeted by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. He said this puts us in a state of great confusion.

He said this latest attack on Israel will lead to the erosion of the strategic gains Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps boasting about and in saying he will change the shape of the Middle East.

He pointed out Iran has already sent a clear message that any counterattack to this one will be met with a devastating response, indicating Israel may be subjected to strikes from the Houthi Ansar Allah group in Yemen and from the Lebanese Hezbollah.

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Iran Attacks Israel With Ballistic Missiles

CROSSFIREARABIA – Iran has attacked Israel with ballistic missiles, Tuesday, evening. It was a massive attack coming from different locations in Iran launching missiles that hit Israel at point-blank.

The ballistic missiles argued to be made in two rounds, no more than five minutes within each other, amounted up to 250, although different media sources like Al Jazeera settled on 180 ballistic missiles that directly came across from Iran.

In a preliminary statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) said the attack was in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC Commander Abbas Nilforoshan according to Anadolu.

The social media has been going crazy with commentary and images of the missiles coming in droves over Israel in a first-time development and hit different cities and strategic locations in Israel like Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and the Negev desert.

The Israeli army has been telling its citizens, all-day Tuesday, to stay in or near underground shelters because of the missiles, namely Fadi 4 rockets that were being fired by Hezbollah operatives from across the border.

Just before the blasts media outlets were saying that US intelligence sources were conveying to the Israelis than an attack from Iran was imminent and to be prepared for.

When the massive attack happened however, it was surprise jolts, coming over the Jordan night skies where it was visibly seen and heard.

“This operation is our legal right to defend ourselves,” the Revolutionary Guard pointed out in its statement. Iran’s mission to the United Nations stated that “If Israel dares to retaliate or commits malicious acts, our response will be devastating,” as reported by the Quds News Network.

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Domination Space For Common Space

By Dr Khairi Janbek

When we think of contemporary Iran, one always believes that the Arab Middle East had always been dominated by the three Non-Arab American allies; Iran under of the Shah, Turkey and Israel.

One thinks that those “neighborhood police stations’ were the guarantors of stability through their convergence, and at times contradictions, in the age of Cold War and oil. However, the Shah of Iran was deposed and the Anti-communist Cold War ended, but that didn’t mean that oil stopped becoming important nor that Russia and China were no longer threats.

One would say, that the rehabilitation of Iran and possibly turning it into a negotiations partner aims at keeping the third angle of the police stations triangle going, because non of the Arab countries, no matter how much they tried, could never replace Iran, because no Arab police station is permitted to emerge as a third angle.

Having said that, it would be beyond naive to think that the expansion of Iran’s power and influence happened by stealth or escaped the notice of the US and NATO.

After after all Iran grew to become a Red Sea country through its influence on the Houthis in Yemen, a Mediterranean country through its influence in Syria as well Lebanon through Hezbullah and the major Gulf country through its supporters in Iraq. 

In fact this Iranian domination of space is what has created a common space between all its long-arm organisations in the region.

Essentially, if we compare Iran to an octopus, all those various groups are its tentacles, and they all serve the purpose of Iran’s strategic interests, albeit not through a push-button approach, but through not taking any action which would not please their Persian master.  

Of course, this puts Iran in a strong position to be a major player in the region and an inescapable negotiations partner for the US, which is also convenient for the Americans, in order to remind their Arab allies who is their protector in a region policed by Turkey, Israel and Iran.

Of course this takes us to the point of saying that, for all intents and purposes, for the Americans a trusted adversary is more important than distrusted friends, and that it would be absurd to think that all those long arms of Iran in the Arab world can be amputated by military means; they certainly can be weakened, but without the consent of Iran and without the right price, so long as it remains behind them, nothing much can change.

At this point, from what one can only see, is that no one in their right mind or otherwise, will permit a war to emerge in which Israel is pitted against Iran and the US as well as NATO putting all their weight behind Israel and forcing the Arabs to choose their camp.  

That would be the scenario of the end of the world as we know it, or with major civil wars in the Arab countries controlled by the tentacles of Iran, and which no one wants.

Dr Khairi Janbek is a Jordanian writer based in ParisFrance

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Yossi Hadar: ‘Netanyahu Lost The War to Hamas’

Israeli political analyst Yossi Hadar, in the Jewish Maariv newspaper, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost the war to Hamas, and instead of signing a prisoner exchange deal with it, he is trying to drag Israel into a war of attrition that will keep him in power.

The analyst harshly criticized Netanyahu for trying to dismiss Defense Minister Yoav Galant, describing it as a political move to preserve his position, ignoring the military failures in the Hamas attack of 7 October, 2023.

The writer began his article by referring to the operation attributed to Israel of blowing up the wireless devices in Lebanon and Syria, which resulted in the death of 32 Lebanese and the wounding of hundreds, according to the latest statistics.

“If the attribution of this operation to Israel is correct, it reveals another aspect of Israel’s enormous military capabilities, but at the same time it could bring us closer to a real war with Hezbollah, while the war in Gaza continues, the Houthis attacks on Israel, and Iranian threats continue, with operations growing in the West Bank and inside Israel,” he added.

The analyst accused Netanyahu of deliberately prolonging the war for political reasons, ignoring the serious security implications for Israel, and described him as the most failed prime minister in Israel, and that he “is leading an approach of political baseness and exhaustion and implementing a Machiavellian plot aimed at tightening control over the country by pushing the public to despair.”

Hadar stressed that Netanyahu’s escalation in the north is “the way Netanyahu seeks to maintain his rule, not in order to do something beneficial for the citizens of Israel, but only for his personal and political interests, just so he can continue to exhaust us.”

Political Maneuver

The writer then went on to assert that Netanyahu’s attempt to dismiss Galant is part of a political maneuver aimed at strengthening his power, rather than addressing the military failures that were evident in the 7 October attack, which puts Israel in a weak position in the face of the growing threats.

“All this does not prevent Netanyahu from hatching a plot to overthrow the defense minister at this critical moment for the security of the state, and in the midst of a war that could expand,” he said.

He explained Netanyahu’s move as a bid to replace his defense minister because of his opposition to the Haredi conscription law that the Orthodox parties insist on, in exchange for appointing the head of the Right-wing Israel Party, Gideon Sa’ar, because the latter will pass this law, referring to Sa’ar’s volatility, who was previously quoted as saying, “If you want Netanyahu as prime minister, don’t vote for me.”

Hadar also denied Netanyahu’s followers’ marketing of the reason for Galant’s dismissal as a “weak leftist,” saying that Galant himself offered, just four days after the 7 October attack, to attack Hezbollah as a preemptive move, but Netanyahu refused, in a state of panic over the events.

The writer recalled that Netanyahu is the one who divided Israel by leading “an attempted coup against the judicial system that he created before 7 October,” and he is the one who brought upon Israel “the catastrophe of 7 October,” and now he is dragging another catastrophe by dragging Israel into a war of attrition.

He said, “Instead of waging a short and intense war, he chose a dangerous and failed war of attrition that goes against all strategic logic, and dragged Israel into the worst state it has been since its founding, because what matters is only the logic of political survival,” according to Jordan24.

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