Iran launched a wave of drone and missile attack on Israel on Sunday night in retaliation against the April 1 air strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus in which a senior IRGC commander was killed. Israel claimed that 99% of Iranian drones and missiles were intercepted mid air. The U.S., which helped the Israeli air defence, lauded the ‘remarkable Israeli defence’ and reiterated America’s “ironclad’ security commitments to Israel. Iran says the matter is concluded for now, but vowed to strike back with greater force if Israel retaliates. While the situation remains highly volatile, there are at least three takeaways from the biggest crisis that’s unfolding in West Asia since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
One, U.S. President Joe Biden’s policy of containing the West Asian crisis doesn’t seem to be working. Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, Mr. Biden had adopted a policy of offering carte blanche support to Israel’s military operations in the region, while at the same time trying, diplomatically, to prevent Israel’s actions leading to a regional war. Israel showered fire and fury on Gaza, levelling buildings across the strip, displacing over 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population and killing at least 33,000 Palestinians, a vast majority of them women and children. But Israel’s military operation did not limit to Gaza. It carried out air strikes in Syria and Lebanon, mainly targeting Iran and its proxies. Iran lost a number of senior commanders in Israeli attacks in Syria, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the IRGC commander who was killed in the Damascus consulate bombing.
Published - April 14, 2024 04:49 pm IST
