Is consent being manufactured. UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles],cruise missiles, and perhaps ballistic missiles were launched at Israel. The seizure of a ship in the Hormuz Strait and the assassination of an Iranian commander in Syria began this latest exchange. Drones sent by a country with multi-stage ballistic missiles seemed ‘proportional’ as several Iranian Shaheed drones were launched, estimated to be against military targets such as air bases.
Iran launched dozens of drones against Israel on Saturday night local time, four U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios.
Why it matters: It is the first time Iran launched an attack from its soil against Israel. It's unclear what the targets are.
- U.S. officials are concerned an Israeli retaliation against Iran will lead to another regional escalation.
- The Biden administration has vowed to help Israel counter the Iranian attack.
www.axios.com/…
A number of drones were seen flying from the direction of Iran over Iraq’s Sulaymaniya province, three security sources told Reuters on Saturday.
“Dozens of drones were spotted flying from Iran in the direction of Israel over Iraqi airspace,” two Iraqi security sources also told Reuters.
Iraq also announced shutting down its airspace and suspending all air traffic on Saturday, Iraq’s transport ministry told the country’s state-owned news agency.
english.alarabiya.net/...
Israel’s “Wing of Zion” official state plane has taken flight from the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel, data from flight tracking websites show.
The plane built for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been collecting dust after being handed over to the Israeli Air Force several years ago; it has never been used officially.
www.timesofisrael.com/...
Israel’s sophisticated Iron Dome air defence system is expected to be able to intercept Shahed drones, which fly at around 150km/hour.
The air space between Iran and Israel has been closed with a number of militaries attempting to engage the Iranian missiles.
The Israeli military late on April 13 said that Iran had launched dozens of drone aircraft toward Israel and that the flight time could take hours.
Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel's defenses were prepared to handle the attack. Further details were not immediately available.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of the potential attack.
Two Iraqi security sources told Reuters that dozens of drones had been spotted flying from Iran in the direction of Israel.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West over the continuing war in the Gaza Strip and following a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian Consulate in Syria this month.
Iran has vowed to retaliate for the April 1 strike that killed seven Iranian military personnel, including a top IRGC commander.
www.rferl.org/...
Iran launched a retaliatory strike Saturday night on Israel for its deadly attack on Iranian officers in the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Damascus after days of signaling it would do so.
The response came in waves throughout Saturday, beginning with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seizing a vessel in the Red Sea connected to Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s company, Zodiac Maritime. By around 11 pm local time, that had graduated to multiple waves of attack drones and missiles headed toward Israeli targets.
The drones — thought to be slow-moving Shahed-136 models — could have been intended to confuse Israeli radar systems and allow missiles to penetrate, but also could have been chosen as a carefully choreographed response intended to telegraph the regime’s anger at Israel’s embassy strike on April 1. The Israeli military said the missile barrage included both ballistic and cruise missiles.
The last two weeks and particularly Iran’s attack Saturday have raised fears that finally it — as in, the outright regional war that has been feared ever since Hamas’s October 7 attacks and Israel’s ensuing invasion of Gaza — is here.
And while it’s too early to tell what exactly comes next — including how Israel responds — Iran seems to be signaling it doesn’t want this to escalate further.
www.vox.com/...