Israel and its allies were even more fortunate than initially believed to have intercepted virtually all of the projectiles launched by Iran on Saturday.
A new U.S. intelligence report states the 300 missiles and suicide drones targeted “major civilian areas” with the intention of inflicting “mass casualties and infrastructure damage.”
Before the strike, the Biden administration reached out to Iran’s leaders through an intermediary government to ease tensions. According to Reuters, White House officials conveyed to Iran through Turkey that any action by Tehran had to be “within certain limits.” (RELATED: Biden Warns Netanyahu After Helping Israel Thwart Iran Assault)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly made clear to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan that an escalation in the Middle East doesn’t benefit anyone.
A Turkish source speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters: “In response, Iran said the reaction would be a response to Israel’s attack on its embassy in Damascus and that it would not go beyond this.”
However, senior U.S. officials who spoke to the news website Semafor, say Iran had far more “ambitious” plans.
The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra has more:
Israeli officials said that Iran crossed a major red line with its attack, the first time the Islamic Republic has ever directly attacked Israel, and would pay a steep price for the terror inflicted against the Jewish state.
They said that despite Iran’s claims that it was only targeting military infrastructure, Iran also targeted “major civilian areas” and that a direct military response would be required.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett slammed President Joe Biden on Sunday for telling Israel that it got a “win” and that they should take the win. The “win,” according to the Biden administration, was the fact that 99% of the projectiles were shot down by Israel and its allies in the region.
“No, it’s NOT a victory,” Bennett wrote. “When a bully tries to hit you 350 times and only succeeds seven time, you’ve NOT won. You don’t win wars just by intercepting your enemy’s hits, nor do you deter it. Your enemy will just try harder with more and better weapons and methods next time.”
Bennett continued, arguing the only way to stop naked aggression is to impose a “deeply painful price.” He added that Iran’s direct attack undermined Tehran’s long-running strategy of expanding its insidious tentacles across the Mideast and waging terror by proxy.
“Israel’s strategic mistake for the past 30 years was to play along with this strategy,” Bennett concluded. “We always fought the Octopus’ arms, but hardly exacted a price from its Iranian head.”
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