Did Iran’s attack on Israel fail?

LAHORE: Israel and its allies are describing Iran’s first direct attack on Israel from its territory as a failure because 99 percent of the drones were allegedly shot down, according to the world media.

Israel and its allies, the United States, Britain and France, as well as Jordan, intercepted more than 300 drones and nearly all of the ballistic and cruise missiles. According to The Guardian, Iran declared the attack on Israel a success, saying that the objectives were achieved and the operation was over. Inside Iran, there was no official acknowledgment that 99 percent of the drones were shot down.

Iranian international relations experts claimed that Iran’s attack was calculated and limited. Mohsen Abdullahi, a Tehran-based professor, said Iran did not want to expand the war in the region. The message of Iran’s attack is “stop attacking Iran or face a real attack”.

Abdul Rasool Dausler, an Iranian who works for the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, said the attack was a collective failure of Israeli and US understanding of Iran’s strategic thinking that Iran would not respond directly.

The Iranian government said the military operation was now over, targeting mostly military targets intended as retaliation for an Israeli attack on it. The Chief of General Staff said that this operation was carried out only by the forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

“And if the Zionist regime takes action against us, either on our soil or in our centers in Syria, or any other country does, our next operation will be big.”

He said the operation could have been 10 times bigger. He insisted that there were only military targets and that Iran was acting in self-defense.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran’s actions were proportionate and responsible compared to Israel’s six months of violations of international law. The Israeli military said that more than 300 missiles and drones were fired in Iran’s attack on Israel, most of which were fired from Iranian territory. The New York Times quoted Israeli sources as saying that Iran had fired 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles and 110 surface missiles that hit the ground.Daniel Hagari, Israel’s top military spokesman, said only a few of the more than 120 ballistic missiles fired by Iran entered Israeli territory, where they fell on the Navatim Israeli military airbase and caused minimal damage to infrastructure. He said that none of the drones entered the country. Dozens were intercepted by Israeli warplanes, the country’s air defense systems, and aircraft and air defence systems belonging to Israel’s allies. And none of the more than 30 cruise missiles fired by Iran entered Israeli territory. Twenty-five were intercepted by Israeli warplanes outside Israel’s borders.