Two weeks have passed since Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, and there is still no Israeli response. The United States believes that they have received guarantees from Israel that this response will not include Iranian oil or nuclear facilities, but those assurances do not extend to future attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold a limited consultation regarding the response on Friday, and on Sunday the political-security cabinet will convene.
After the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reported that Netanyahu informed the Biden administration that he planned to attack Iranian t recent attack. military targets and not oil or nuclear facilities, the New York Times also reported on the decision, but emphasized that the decision only refers to the response to the most recent attack.
2 View gallery
Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu informed theadministration of President Joe Biden that he planned to attack Iranian military targets and n
(Photos: Nathan Howard/Reuters, Haim Goldberg )
According to the report, a final decision has not yet been made, and the Israeli response attack could still be large in scope, which may lead to several rounds of attacks. Two sources familiar with the matter said that "Israel's assurances to the Americans touched on the upcoming attack, which means that Israel can still hit more ambitious targets in future rounds of attacks against Iran."
The Biden administration believes that sending the THAAD air defense system, with about 100 soldiers to operate it, is expected to somewhat alleviate Israel's fears of the Iranian response. Reports from the past few days indicate that the arrival of that battery - components of which have already landed in Israel - is considered part of the coordination between Israel and the U.S., and possibly is a return that Israel received in exchange for responding to U.S. requests to refrain from attacking nuclear facilities.
Still, the Associated Press reported that U.S. officials warned that the assurances received by the United States "are not set in stone and the circumstances may change." They said that Israel had a "mixed past" regarding keeping promises, and that more than once internal politics led to change.
Meanwhile, pressure is also coming from Russia. The Russian President's special representative for the Middle East and African countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, said that Moscow maintains contacts at various levels with Israel, and conveyed Russia's concerns regarding a possible Israeli response to Iran. "We are in contact with the embassies, our ambassador also maintains contacts through other channels, and they are conducted daily," the deputy minister noted.
Ballistic missiles launched from Iran at Israel earlier this month
In an interview with the Arabic-language Al-Hurra network, IDF spokesman Brigadier General Daniel Hagari was asked about Israel's response plan to Iran and said that Israel "knows how to protect its citizens." He was asked if the same THAAD system that Israel received from Washington is an indication of an imminent Israeli attack and answered: "Israel knows what to do at the time and in the manner it chooses."
Hagari did not explicitly answer the question of whether Israel would coordinate the response with other countries, emphasizing that Israel is not fighting Iran or the Iranian people, but the regime.
In preparation for that Israeli attack, and Iran's expected response, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant convened the Supreme Military (Emergency Economy) Committee. In the discussion, Gallant insisted on the readiness of the various systems, with an emphasis on the health, energy and communication systems, to deal with a scenario of widespread rocket fire at the State of Israel.
Test of the THAAD missile defense system coming to Israel from the US
(רויטרס )
"After defending Israel about two weeks ago from a vicious Iranian attack of 200 ballistic missiles that were fired at us, we have no intention of putting up with a violation of our sovereignty and an attempt to harm Israeli citizens and infrastructure without reacting" Gallant said. "The response against Iran will be precise, painful and surprising. ... The meaning of such an action could also affect other places. We have seen examples of this."
"We have no interest in opening additional fronts and additional operations," Gallant added. "I am involved in preparing the security system, together with The Chief of Staff, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. All in all, we are all seeing things eye to eye, both in relation to the need for a response and the essence of the response."
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: