On April 13, Iran and Iran-backed groups in several nations launched an unprecedented retaliatory attack on Israel that included more than 300 missiles and drones. Virtually all missiles fired at Israel were intercepted and destroyed by Israeli air defense systems, as well as forces activated by the U.S., Jordan and France. Israeli reported there was “very little damage” from the air assault.
Iran’s attack came in response to the April 1 Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital of Damascus that killed seven Iranian military officers including two high ranking generals. The missile and drone attack marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, during a decades-long shadow war between the two nations.
Although Iran issued a statement after their attack that they considered the matter concluded unless Israel retaliated, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant vowed there would be “a response” to Iran’s offensive. But the Biden administration and several other Western nations allied with Israel have urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to rush into a retaliation against Iran that could trigger a regional war, with U.S. officials warning that America will not participate in any offensive action against Iran. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Assaf Kfoury, professor of computer science at Boston University, who assesses the growing risk of a dangerous regional war, that has for the moment distracted much of the world from Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and the onset of widespread famine there.
ASSAF KFOURY: Netanyahu and his government are facing a crisis in Gaza itself. It’s not going as fast as they promised it was going to be. And what they needed to do with what they’ve done in Damascus is a way of mobilizing the United States and Europe, too, on their side in a bigger confrontation with Iran. They would like — and they haven’t succeeded very well — but they would like to get the United States on their side openly in confronting Iran. And the assumption, which is the wrong assumption also — that Iran is the one that is providing the guns and the weapons and the support that Hamas needs to pursue its resistance. We know now that Hamas made its decision on Oct. 7 without notifying Iran or their allies like Hezbollah in Lebanon. And so they’re surprised. I mean, we know this from some other reports that people have given.
So, even though they are supported by Iran, they have some kind of relative independence in their decision making, and they went ahead and did whatever they did, okay? It was horrific, but they did it on Oct. 7. Now, that campaign that was started around the middle of October by the Israeli state and with the army has not gone as promised. I mean, they destroyed Gaza. Gaza is completely obliterated, but the idea that they will finish off Hamas within two months or three months — this hasn’t happened.
And now the United States is in a bit of a bind because Israel is seen as a rogue state by the rest of the world. The United States, okay, it can continue to veto a resolution in the Security Council. But nevertheless, Netanyahu is putting the United States in a corner.
Mr. Biden is telling Netanyahu, “Listen, consider what has happened with our help. We have shut down 90 percent of the missiles and the drones. Consider it victory and call it off. Done. Okay?”
And the Iranians basically said, “Basically, look, we consider the matter closed if you stop here.”
But where Mr. Netanyahu and his cabinet are coming from, they did what they did, and we know now –– not notifying the United States, they’re going to launch this attack on the consulate in Damascus in order to get the United States directly involved with them. They tried, Mr. Netanyahu, tried more than once in the past, if you remember, to get the United States to go directly against Iran.
SCOTT HARRIS: Well, professor Kfoury, we only have a few minutes left, but Israel’s attack on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus, Syria seemed designed to distract the world from the carnage in Gaza, and especially the deaths of the seven humanitarian aid workers of the World’s Central Kitchen killed by Israeli fire.
If that’s what the objective was, or part of the objective was, along with trying to get the United States tangled up in a possible conflict with Iran, extremely dangerous as it is, they at least temporarily did distract the world from the continued carnage and bloodshed in Gaza.
According to many Israeli commentators, newspapers and news coverage, it’s well known that Netanyahu has an advantage of keeping this war going as long as possible to avoid an election that he will likely lose. He does face a corruption trial and possible prison. So this has a lot of consequences for him personally.
ASSAF KFOURY: You’re perfectly right. You put all the pieces together here. I mean, and you can see from that angle he’s gambling and is gambling in a way that is dangerous for everybody. Number one, as you point out, he’s deflecting attention from the destruction of Gaza, from what happened with the seven aid workers. He’s distracting from the fact that he did not achieve what he promised he will achieve within two, three months or whatever. We are six months into that campaign. There’s nothing else you can destroy in Gaza. I mean, there is Rafah, the town in the south of the Gaza Strip.
And then if there’s an election, he’s going to lose if he doesn’t come back and say, “We have won.” And then if he loses the election, he’s going to be sued for corruption.
Well, the man is trying to save himself or his political career, whatever. And he does what he did with the destruction of the consulate. So yeah, you have that it there exactly, the scenario that he is going through. And of course, it’s very dangerous because to survive politically, he’s doing something that is going to be very, very dangerous for the whole region.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Assaf Kfoury (15:32). More articles and opinion pieces are found in the Related Links section of this page.
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