The IDF said on Wednesday that it bolstered its air defense array and had called up reservists, as the country girded for a potential Iranian response to the strike in Syria earlier this week, in which several high-ranking Iranian military officials were killed.
Both Iran and its proxy Hezbollah have vowed that Israel will not go unpunished for the Monday attack on a consular building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most senior official in Syria, along with his deputy, five other IRGC officers, and at least one member of the Hezbollah terror group.
A Channel 12 news report reflecting Israeli speculation on a possible reprisal pointed to the possibility that Iran could respond by directly launching missiles from its own territory rather than via any of its proxy groups, which includes militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
While Israel could suffice with letting the round of hostilities fizzle out, in the event that Iran responds via a proxy, such as a Hezbollah rocket barrage, an attack from Iranian territory would likely push the Israeli Defense Forces to launch a significant reprisal, risking sending tensions snowballing further.
“I won’t be surprised if Iran fires directly at Israel,” former Military Intelligence head Amos Yadlin told the network, explaining that a January missile strike carried out by Iran on neighboring Pakistan set a precedent for such action.
“The defeat of the Zionist regime in Gaza will continue and this regime will be close to decline and dissolution,” Khamenei said in a speech to the country’s officials in Tehran Wednesday.
“Desperate efforts like the one they committed in Syria will not save them from defeat. Of course, they will also be slapped for that action,” he added.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier on Wednesday that Israel is “increasing preparedness” in the face of threats from across the Middle East.
Speaking at a home-front readiness drill in Haifa, Gallant said that the country’s defense establishment is “expanding our operations against Hezbollah, against other bodies that threaten us,” and reiterated that Israel “strikes our enemies all over the Middle East.”
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