Israel does not offer details, but considers the bombing of Iran early Saturday morning a success in response to Tehran’s missile attack on October 1. In his first public reaction, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated this Sunday that they have managed to reduce the defensive potential and the ability of the Ayatollah regime to manufacture missiles.
According to Israel, the Islamic Republic now has less margin to carry out an attack like the one a month ago and, in turn, its infrastructure is more exposed in case the Jewish State decides to strike again. In any case, Iran has a significant arsenal that not only supplies Israel’s main enemies in the conflict in the Middle East, such as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah or the Houthi guerrillas in Yemen, but also supplies Russia with weapons to maintain the invasion of Ukraine.
In Tehran, the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has indicated that his country will determine the best way to react to the attack suffered this weekend, without confirming that there will be a military response, as reported by Reuters citing the official Irna agency. Khamenei does not hide that there have been objectives that Israel has reached in the capital and other areas of the country and points out that the effects of the attack “should neither be minimized nor exaggerated.”
“They do not know Iran” and “they have not yet properly understood the power, capacity, initiative and will of the Iranian nation. “We must make them understand,” added Khamenei, who considers the Israeli bombings a mistake that Tehran must “correct.” The head of Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Araqchi, has also commented that his country reserves the right to respond to what they describe as a “criminal aggression”, according to a letter sent to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, in which he requests a meeting of the Security Council. That appointment is scheduled for this Monday.
“The air force attacked throughout Iran. “We hit hard Iran’s defensive capacity and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us,” Netanyahu said during a ceremony honoring those killed during the war. It was, he added, a “precise and powerful” operation that “achieved all its objectives.” At least four Iranian soldiers were killed in the Israeli bombings, according to authorities in Tehran, who acknowledge some damage.
Netanyahu had to interrupt his speech when he was booed by relatives of some of the fallen who, amidst screams, reproached him for having lost their loved ones after being murdered, according to images released by the Kan public corporation. “What a shame!”, “The father was murdered and the son abandoned!”, the president had to hear, who was not able to resume his speech until those who were protesting were evicted, according to local media.
Israel’s operation has been approached with the United States, its main ally and with which information was exchanged about an attack that, according to Washington, should prevent the Iranian nuclear program and oil facilities, as has been the case. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about “the success of the attacks against Iranian missile manufacturing facilities, surface-to-air missile arrays and air capabilities.” ”according to a statement.
Truce negotiation
The reactions to the attack in Iran take place at the same time that Doha (Qatar) welcomes new contacts to try to achieve a truce in Gaza that would allow the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. After two months without trying, delegations from both parties, Israel and Hamas, coordinated with negotiators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt, are trying to reissue the ceasefire achieved almost a year ago, during the last week of November. The Israeli Defense Minister recognizes that for the captives to return – there are 101 left in Gaza – it will be necessary to accept “painful” compromises.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israeli army bombs continue to kill dozens of people every day. At least 18 people have died and dozens have been injured in an attack by Israeli fighters against the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, where troops have been carrying out a siege for three weeks that has already left some 800 dead. , according to Hamas authorities in an enclave where almost 43,000 Gazans have lost their lives during the conflict.
The Israeli army, which in recent hours has once again ordered massive displacements of the population, also maintains its attacks in Lebanon, where at least eight people have died near the city of Sidon due to a bombing, according to the balance sheet of local authorities. Military spokespersons have announced the death in the last few hours of six of the soldiers participating in the land invasion of the neighboring country. From there, the Shiite militia Hezbollah, for its part, has continued to launch missiles into Israeli territory.
This Sunday, an Israeli Arab citizen crashed the truck he was driving into a bus stop on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring thirty others before being shot dead by some of the civilians present at the scene. facts.
