More than 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles were launched by Iran late Saturday in the first full-scale military attack on Israel by Tehran but the Jewish state and its Western allies largely thwarted the assault.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said 99 percent of the projectiles were intercepted, but some fell inside Israeli territory, and one damaged a military base in the country’s south.
Hagari said a young girl was seriously injured in the attack but the Iranian offensive was militarily impotent as a US-led coalition of countries worked with Israel to intercept the airstrikes.
He said the U.S.-led coalition included France, which contributed technological support.
British Royal Air Force planes shot down “a number of Iranian attack drones,” said UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
US national security spokesperson John Kirby reiterated that America’s commitment to Israel is “ironclad” but he also indicated that the Biden administration does not want the conflict to escalate.
Tehran’s attack was “four-pronged,” according to a report by the state-run Tasnim News Agency, originating from sites in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
The U.S. military helped Israel take down “nearly all” of the drones and missiles, Biden said in a statement, adding that he would convene Group of Seven leaders Sunday to coordinate a united diplomatic response.
Routing for failure
Fox News gave airtime to Aryeh Lightstone, former chief of staff to Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Israel, who stated that “Iran looks at the Biden administration and sees complete and total weakness.”
Lightstone’s transparent attempt to sow partisan division during a military action as it happened was echoed by the 2020 election loser Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who delivered Trump’s surrender to the Taliban in February 2020.
As it turns out, Biden’s strength has been confirmed by Israeli authorities, Arab allies who opened airspace to American forces or even participated in thwarting the volley, and other foreign collaborators that joined the US-led defensive action.
Iranian officials described the attack as retaliation for Israel’s airstrike on the Islamic Republic consulate building in Damascus, Syria.
That attack killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including senior commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi.
Israel has carried out strikes in Syria against Iran and its allies for years and throughout its six-month military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
The April 1 attack stood out both because of its location — in a diplomatic compound, traditionally exempted from hostilities — and because of the apparent targets were such high-ranking leaders of the Iranian military.
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