Israel draws up plan to respond to Iran’s drone attacks
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Israel said on Sunday night it has come up with a plan to respond to the unprecedented drone and missile attacks by Iran.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Israel’s war cabinet has approved “offensive and defensive action” even though leaders of the West urged against escalation.
Early on April 14, Iran launched more than 100 drones and missiles toward Israel, which its air defense systems and U.S. and UK forces shot down over Syria, Iraq, and Jordan and deterred almost all of the attacks before crossing into Israeli territory.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, canceled an immediate response after U.S. President Joe Biden asked him to “think carefully” about his next action.
On Sunday night, Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., said during an emergency meeting at the U.N. Security Council, “We are surrounded by Iran’s terror proxies. This attack crossed every red line and Israel reserves every right to retaliate.”
Iran’s attack, which it claimed was an act of self-defense, came in response to an attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1, which killed five officers and two generals of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.
Meanwhile, David Petraeus, a former CIA director and retired general, told CNN on Sunday that Israel could take a covert response against the Iranian drone strikes.
“There’s a whole menu of actions that they can take, not all of which are necessarily overt. They can pursue covert. They can pursue asymmetric attacks, cyberspace, and so forth,” he said.