Iran launches attack on Israel that risks triggering a regional war in the Middle East

Iran launched a retaliatory strike against Israel on Saturday that risks triggering a regional conflict that could draw in US military forces. The attack marked the first time that Iran launched a direct military attack on the Jewish state.

Israeli military officials said the attack began with more than 100 Iranian drones heading toward Israel. It will be hours before the drones arrive, and Israeli authorities have said they hope to intercept them.

A senior Biden administration official warned that the attack could also involve dozens of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

The official said the government expects Israeli government facilities to be targeted, but not civilian or religious sites. U.S. assets in the region are also not expected to be targeted, the official said.

The US and Israel have been closely coordinating how to defend themselves against the attack, the official said. “We are ready. The Israelis are ready.”

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Iranian state television said that “in response to the crimes of the Zionist regime”, Iran launched “missiles and drones at specific locations in the occupied lands”.

The attack came weeks after a suspected Israeli attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria’s capital, Damascus, killed two generals and five officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack, but Tehran vowed revenge.

White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement that Iran had launched “air strikes against Israel.”

President Joe Biden is being updated on the situation in the Middle East by his national security team and plans to meet with them later Saturday at the White House, the statement said. Additionally, Biden’s team is in “constant contact” with Israeli officials, partners and allies.

The attack on Israel will likely “unfold over the course of a few hours,” Watson said in the statement.

Three U.S. officials said Washington is prepared to help defend Israel with warships in the region, including the USS Carney, a destroyer that has been involved in destroying missiles and drones in the Red Sea fired by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.

The US has signaled its support for Israel and worked to persuade Iran to stop short of a significant escalation that could escalate into an all-out war between Iran and Israel.

Iran has previously avoided direct conflict with Israel, opting instead to harm its adversary through armed proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and elsewhere. In secret communications with the U.S. over the past two weeks, Iran indicated it would retaliate against Israel but wanted to avoid a massive escalation that would lead to all-out war, U.S. officials told NBC News.

The question now is whether Iran’s attack will be interpreted as Tehran planned or will trigger an unintended reaction from Israel that could escalate into an uncontrollable cycle of violence, analysts said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said at a prayer ceremony celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Wednesday that Israel “must be punished and will be punished.” Because the destroyed building was a consular building, he said, it amounted to an attack on Iranian soil.

Rising tensions

Tensions in the region have been at a boiling point since Hamas’ deadly October 7 terrorist attack and mass hostage-taking, and Israel’s subsequent large-scale attack on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the deaths of more than 33,000 people and pushed the population to the extreme. verge of starvation. Although he is increasingly critical of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, Biden promised that “America’s commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is unyielding.”

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, spoke with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday and said that “a direct Iranian attack will require an appropriate Israeli response against Iran.”

Two U.S. officials told NBC News last week that the administration was considering options on how to respond to several possible retaliatory moves by Iran.

The explosion at the consular building killed two of Iran’s top commanders, including Brig. General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior member of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite foreign espionage group.

His death marked the assassination of the highest-ranking Iranian official since General Qassem Soleimani was the target of an American airstrike in 2020.

Zahedi was a key figure in coordinating the so-called Axis of Resistance – the anti-Israel and anti-Western network of Iranian-backed groups that operate with militants across the Arab world. Tehran currently supports Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis – all of whom in recent months have attacked Israel directly or conducted attacks claiming resistance to Israel.

Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese political party and militia, has exchanged fire with Israel throughout the southern border of Lebanon since then in support of Hamas. More than 300 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the United Nations, including at least 54 confirmed civilians.

The Houthis, a rebel militia based in Yemen, have been firing at ships in the Red Sea for months, threatening a key route for global trade. The US and UK organized a military coalition against the Houthis, firing at militia locations in Yemen in January.

Another militant group associated with Iran, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, attacked a US base in Jordan in January. Three US soldiers were killed and 30 others were injured in the attack. The group also claimed to have launched numerous attacks on Israeli sites since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran’s military reach

The IRGC, Iran’s immensely powerful military and political organization, helped Tehran wage a parallel war with Israel across the Middle East for years, while the two countries avoided direct conflict.

Israel is believed to be behind a long list of drone strikes and explosions that have hit Iranian military and nuclear targets, especially since the collapse of negotiations to revive Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has faced growing national and global criticism over Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza, has long viewed the Islamic Republic as Israel’s most dangerous adversary.

Israel has struggled to contain and undermine Iran’s military reach in Syria by targeting arms deliveries destined for Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

Since Iran came to the aid of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria more than a decade ago, sending thousands of foreign Shiite fighters to Syria as well as Revolutionary Guard troops to help Damascus wage war against Syrian rebels, Israel fears that Iran’s military presence across the border posed a growing threat.

Following the Hamas attack on October 7, Israel adopted a more aggressive stance, apparently concluding that its previous tactics had failed to deter Iran and its partners in Gaza. Instead of attacking weapons shipments or military installations in Syria, Israel went after senior figures overseeing Iran’s regional proxy network. In December, Israel is believed to have killed Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a top Iranian general, in Damascus.

Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons, a state-of-the-art air force and advanced air defenses, enjoys a military advantage over Iran. But Tehran has built a formidable arsenal of ballistic missiles and drones, along with its proxies that can attack Israeli targets or Americans throughout the region.