JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said on Tuesday that Iran will not get off “scot-free” after Tehran launched an unprecedented wave of missiles and drones at Israel last weekend.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters at Julis military base while displaying the remains of an intercepted missile, “Iran will not get (off) scot-free with this aggression.” “We will not allow this aggression in the region,” Hagari said.
The Israeli military spokesman said that, even as the world was talking about the “nuclear threat from Iran,” Tehran was “building a conventional threat, meaning to create a ring of fire across Israel”.
From late on Saturday to early Sunday, Iran launched more than 300 drones, missiles and ballistic missiles at Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi on Monday vowed “a response” after Iran’s attack. The recent escalation has put the Middle East on edge, with concerns mounting about the potential for further conflict.
The Iranian attack came after a deadly Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Syria, prompting Iran to take measures in self-defense.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned of severe consequences for any action against Iran’s interests, while US President Joe Biden reiterated commitment to Israel’s security while seeking to prevent the conflict from spreading. Israel’s top ally and arms supplier, Washington, has made clear it will not join Israel in any attack on their common adversary Iran, a senior US official said.
Since the Iranian attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has twice convened his war cabinet. Israel was weighing its options after the Iranian drone and missile onslaught.
It remained unclear when Israel might strike and whether it would target Iran directly or attack its interests abroad, including in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
In Iran, nuclear facilities were temporarily closed over “security considerations”, said International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi.
On Monday, Israel made its first official comment on the deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that prompted Tehran’s weekend attack.
The strike on April 1 levelled the five-storey building and killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.
“These were people who engaged in terrorism against the State of Israel,” said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari. “There was not a single diplomat there as far as I know.”
