Israel’s Limited Counterstrike Against Iran Is A Warning, Not An Escalation

ANALYSIS – Israel launched an attack on Iranian soil, Western officials confirmed, in what appears to be limited retaliatory action for last week's unprecedented drone and missile attack by Tehran.

The attack is much smaller than some expected. The Iranian response was also much more muted than some feared.

Officials in Washington said Israeli forces were carrying out military operations against Iran but did not describe the character or scale of those operations. Iranian state media said that drones had been shot down over Isfahan province in the early hours.

Isfahan province is home to a large airbase, a major missile production complex and several nuclear facilities. (RELATED: Israel Launches Aerial Campaign Against Iran)

CBS News reported that: “…Iranian air defenses had fired at a major air base in the city of Isfahan, which has long been home to Iran's fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, which were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.”

Isfahan is also home to several sites associated with Iran's covert nuclear program, including its underground Natanz enrichment.The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said no nuclear sites were damaged.

First reports suggested the attack was made by drones. Iranian officials downplayed the attack as being launched from within Iran without mentioning Israel. Later reports said an Israeli missile also struck an Iranian target.

But what message did Israel intend to send to Iran?

The New York Times (NYT) reported:

Within Israel, some portrayed the country's strike as a failure that caused little damage and suggested that Israel had, ultimately, been intimidated into carrying out only a minor retaliatory assault compared to Iran's much more aggressive attack. In an apparent allusion to the strike on social media, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right Israeli government minister, wrote a single word, roughly translated as “Pathetic!” Before the attack, Mr. Ben-Gvir had pushed for a stronger response.

Others hailed it as a deft tactical success that gave Iran the chance to avoid retaliating without losing face, while still proving to Tehran that Israel can strike undetected at the heart of Iranian territory — and do so with much more subtlety than Iran's own attack last weekend.

Nahum Barnea, a prominent Israeli commentator, compared Israel's strike to the biblical story of how David, the ancient Jewish leader, attacked King Saul, another biblical figure. In the story, David chose not to kill Saul despite having the chance to do so, and instead sliced off a sliver of Saul's robe.

“The intention was to signal to the Iranians that we can get to Iranian soil,” Mr. Barnea said in an phone interview. “Not to open a front.”

As a reminder, CBS reported:

Iran last weekend launched an unprecedented retaliatory strike against Israel in response to a deadly attack on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killed seven officers, including two generals, from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran's attack on Israel included 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles, according to the IDF and U.S. officials. None of the drones crossed into Israeli territory before they were shot down by Israel and its allies, including the U.S., the IDF said. 

Five of the ballistic missiles struck Israel, with four of them hitting Israel's Nevatim Air Base, where Israeli F-35s are based, U.S. officials told CBS News. The officials believe the base was likely Iran's primary target, as the strike against the consulate in Syria is believed to have been carried out by an F-35.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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