A billboard covering the facade of a building in Tehran depicts missiles striking Jerusalem and warns: "Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth," on Oct. 26, 2024. (Credit: Atta Kenare/AFP)
On the surface, the much-anticipated Israeli response to the nearly 200 ballistic missile strikes from Iran on Oct. 1 was significantly more measured than expected. While there were fears that it would lead to open war between Tel Aviv and the regime in Tehran, the worst seems to have been avoided as Israel refrained from targeting nuclear or oil facilities. However, it appears that the nature of the Israeli retaliation carried out from the night of Friday, Oct. 25, to Saturday, Oct. 26, aims to set the stage for larger operations against Iran in the future, embedding the response within a series of long-term strategic objectives.While Tehran attempted to limit the impact, boasting about the effectiveness of the country's air defenses, the damage caused could be considerable. According to three Israeli sources cited by Axios, the strikes...
On the surface, the much-anticipated Israeli response to the nearly 200 ballistic missile strikes from Iran on Oct. 1 was significantly more measured than expected. While there were fears that it would lead to open war between Tel Aviv and the regime in Tehran, the worst seems to have been avoided as Israel refrained from targeting nuclear or oil facilities. However, it appears that the nature of the Israeli retaliation carried out from the night of Friday, Oct. 25, to Saturday, Oct. 26, aims to set the stage for larger operations against Iran in the future, embedding the response within a series of long-term strategic objectives.While Tehran attempted to limit the impact, boasting about the effectiveness of the country's air defenses, the damage caused could be considerable. According to three Israeli sources cited by Axios, the...