JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with heads of the country’s security establishment on Wednesday after Iran fired 181 missiles at Israel, amid fears that a deadly regional war is imminent.
Fox News Digital spoke to military and Iran experts about the growing possibility of a broader confrontation between the Jewish state and the clerical regime in Tehran.
“After the Iranian missile attack against Israel there is no longer any question on the basic understanding that Iran is the biggest generator of terror and death in the Middle East. So far, Israel is playing a strange game with Iran’s proxies – fighting Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and others, Yaakov Katz, author of “Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power,” told Fox News Digital.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consults with heads of the security establishment in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 2, 2024. (Mayan Tof (GPO))
Katz, who is a senior fellow at the global think tank Jewish People’s Policy Institute (JPPI), said, “With Iran again attacking Israel directly, it is time to take the fight directly to Iran. The Ayatollahs need to pay the price for doing this.”
Military analyst Amos Harel’s headline in the leftist Haaretz newspaper on Wednesday read: “After unprecedented Iranian attack, we are in a regional war.”
The Islamic Republic has been recognized for decades as the epicenter of Middle East instability, terrorism and chauvinism. In 2010, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told the United States “Cut off the head of the snake” By launching military strikes to destroy Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons facilities.
Iran’s attacks on Israel forced nearly 10 million people to seek safety in bomb shelters on Tuesday. The aerial bombardment was the first time in Israel’s history that the country’s densely populated cities – Tel Aviv and Jerusalem – in the heart of the Biblical nation, suffered such devastating attacks. The Israelis did not panic and remained relatively calm under the pressure of a massive surprise attack.
Protesters hold up pictures of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during an anti-Israel demonstration in Tehran on September 27, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
The only death was from the Iranian barrage. A Palestinian man killed in the West Bank (known by the Biblical regional name of Judea and Samaria in Israel).
“Tonight Iran attempted to kill thousands of Israeli men, women and children, but thanks to our miraculous defense system Iran failed miserably. Shame on Tehran after Israel crushes its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen Tehran made a huge mistake tonight and will pay a heavy price at the time and place we chose,” Lt. Col. Yoni Chetboun, a former deputy speaker of the Knesset and an IDF special forces operator in the reserves, told Fox News Digital.
Iran’s ‘nuclear power mountain’ ‘completely safe’ after Israeli attack: state media
Chetboun was a decorated special forces operator from the Second Lebanon War, when Israel fought the Iran-backed terrorist movement Hezbollah in 2006.
Several rockets fired from Iran are seen over Jerusalem from Hebron, West Bank, on October 1, 2024. (Wissam Hashlamoun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Before Iran’s military attack on Israel in April, Fox News Digital reported that the Biden-Harris administration Released billions of dollars of sanctions relief to Iran According to experts, this will flow into its proxy war machines.
During the Vice Presidential debate on Tuesday, the topic of giving billions of dollars to the Iranian regime came up. Republican Senator JD Vance said, “Iran, which launched this attack, has received more than $100 billion in real estate thanks to the Kamala Harris administration.
“What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they are now launching against our allies. And God forbid, launch against the United States as well.”
Biden administration is under pressure to block billions of dollars in sanctions relief to Iran
Iran expert Lisa Daftari said, “The conflict between the Iranian regime and Israel Today, did not start in AprilOr on October 7 of the previous year. Its origins date back to 1979, when the mullahs came to power, propagating a doctrine that demonized the ‘Great Satan’, a term for the United States, and the ‘Little Satan’, referring to Israel. .
“Over the past 45 years, the Iran regime has consistently targeted American and Israeli interests, carrying out terrorist proxies against both countries to further its strategic objectives. More recently, American policies have enriched the mullahs , thereby facilitating billions of dollars in establishing a formidable cordon around Israel, through various proxies of the regime in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza and the West Bank.”
An Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft takes off. (IDF)
In April, Iran’s regime launched a massive airstrike on Israel with more than 300 suicide drones and missiles. Jerusalem faces barrage of Iranian missiles Targeted attack on Iranian military installations Isfahan province.
Daftari, editor-in-chief of the Foreign Desk news website, said, “Israel’s recent military actions signal a departure from the more restrained posture seen in April, when the country’s defense capabilities against missile threats were considered a victory.” “Underscores Israel’s stepped-up efforts to neutralize existential threats in Lebanon.”
He noted that it has historically engaged in tit-for-tat responses, but added, “Israel is now ready to take decisive steps aimed at neutralizing this emerging risk, with its focus now squarely on the regime in Tehran.” Is.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, September 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
“This is a war between Israel and Iran that started as a direct war on April 14,” David Wurmser, a former senior adviser on nonproliferation and Middle East strategy to former Vice President Dick Cheney, told Fox News Digital. Twilight is the struggle.” “Between a nation that seeks to destroy each other, either Iran or Israel, but not both, will emerge from this war not only as winners but as survivors.”
He said the so-called “Ring of Fire” that Iran has created around Israel had not only an aggressive purpose – a violent one of erosion and isolation, including closing ports and ending international airlines flying to Israel. to kill Israel by starting a war – but it also served as a defensive deterrent against Israel, protecting Iran from any possible Israeli active action against Iran. With the destruction of HezbollahThe strategic axis of the proxy network at the center of that circle of fire, Iran as the greatest threat facing Israel, was left completely exposed to the full weight of Israeli power.
Israeli shelling strikes an area in southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
He reiterated the strong language of Israel’s military and political leadership, which promised to inflict “serious pain on the regime of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran… Iran will certainly now without fear show its weakness as the Israelis Will feel.” “Hezbollah or Iran will move the war against the Iranian regime from defensive to offensive,” Wurmser said.
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He said, “The mistake that Iran has made, as well as its proxies in the West and its accomplices in the protests at the compounds, is not that they have underestimated Israel’s capabilities and its unity, but that they have “Having internalized the ideology that Israel is a fake, fragile colonial entity.” As a deeply rooted civilization, Israel has shown that despite its mistakes and failures, its internal strength is superior to that of any of its neighbors.”
