- Raffi Berg, Tom Spender, Jonathan Beale, Defense Correspondents
- BBC News
Iran launched drones and missiles at Israel after declaring revenge for a deadly attack on its consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus.
Israel has not said it carried out the attack on the consulate, but it is widely believed to have been behind it.
This is the first time Iran has directly attacked Israel.
Previously, Israel and Iran engaged in a years-long shadow war in which they attacked each other's assets without admitting responsibility.
These attacks have intensified considerably during the current war in Gaza, which began with an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on a neighboring Israeli community last October.
Why are Israel and Iran enemies?
The two countries were allies until the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, which created a regime that used its enemy Israel as a key part of its ideology.
Iran does not recognize Israel's right to exist and seeks its eradication.
The country's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has previously described Israel as a “cancerous tumor” that “will definitely be uprooted and destroyed.”
Israel believes that Tehran's rhetoric, its growing proxies vowing to destroy Israel, its funding and arms deliveries to Palestinian groups, including Hamas and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, and what it believes to be Iranian believes that Iran poses an existential threat, as evidenced by Although secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, Iran denies pursuing nuclear bomb production.
Iran wanted to strike back after attack on consulate
Iran claimed Saturday night's Israeli shelling was a response to an April 1 airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing senior Iranian military officials.
Iran considers the airstrike a violation of its sovereignty and has condemned Israel. Israel has not said it carried out it, but it is widely believed that it did.
Thirteen people were killed, including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the Quds Force, the overseas branch of Iran's elite Republican Guard Corps (IRGC). He was a key figure in Iran's armed campaign against the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
The attack on the consulate follows a pattern of airstrikes against Iranian targets widely attributed to Israel. In recent months, several senior Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed in airstrikes in Syria.
The Revolutionary Guards are sending weapons and equipment, including high-precision missiles, to Hezbollah through Syria. Israel is seeking to block these shipments as well as to prevent Iran from increasing its military presence in Syria.
Who are Iran's allies?
Iran has built a network of allies and proxies in the Middle East and claims to form part of an “axis of resistance” challenging U.S. and Israeli interests in the region. Support them to varying degrees.
Syria is Iran's most important ally. Iran, along with Russia, helped Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime survive a decade-long civil war.
Lebanon's Hezbollah is the most powerful Iranian-backed militant group. Since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas, there have been cross-border firefights with Israel almost every day. Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced from their homes on both sides of the border.
Iran supports Iraqi Shiite militias that have attacked U.S. military bases in Iraq, Syria and Jordan with rockets. The United States retaliated after three soldiers were killed at a military outpost in Jordan.
In Yemen, Iran supports the Houthi movement, which controls the country's most populous region. In a show of support for Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel and also attacked commercial ships near the coast, sinking at least one vessel. The US and UK responded by attacking Houthi targets.
Iran has also provided weapons and training to Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7 last year and triggered the current Gaza war, and has also provided weapons and training to Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7 last year and triggered the current Gaza war, and has also provided weapons and training to Iran, its proxies, and Israel's allies across the wider Middle East. This is causing a conflict involving the However, Iran denies any involvement in the October 7 attack itself.
How do the military forces of Iran and Israel compare?
Iran is geographically much larger than Israel, with a population of nearly 90 million people, nearly 10 times Israel's, but this does not translate into increased military power.
Iran has invested heavily in missiles and drones. The country has a vast arsenal of its own, but also supplies large sums to its proxies, Yemen's Houthis and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
What is missing are modern air defense systems and fighter aircraft. Russia is believed to be helping Iran improve its weapons in exchange for military aid it has given Moscow in its war with Iran. Iran provided the Shahid attack drone, and Russia is now reportedly looking to manufacture the weapon itself.
In contrast, Israel has one of the most advanced air forces in the world. According to the IISS military balance report, Israel has at least 14 squadrons, including F-15s, F-16s, and the latest F-35 stealth aircraft.
Israel has experience in conducting attacks deep into hostile territory.
Do Iran and Israel have nuclear weapons?
Israel is believed to have its own nuclear weapons, but maintains a deliberately vague official policy.
Iran does not have nuclear weapons and denies that it is attempting to become a nuclear-armed state through civilian nuclear development.
Last year, the world's nuclear watchdog discovered uranium particles enriched to 83.7% purity, very close to weapons-grade, in Iran's Fordo underground facility. Iran said “unintentional fluctuations” in enrichment levels may have occurred.
Iran has been openly enriching uranium to 60% purity for more than two years, in violation of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
But the deal has come close to collapsing since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reinstated crippling sanctions on Iran. Israel was originally opposed to the nuclear deal.
What message is Iran sending through its attacks?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We blocked it. We intercepted it. Together we will win.''
But Tom Fletcher, a foreign policy adviser to several British prime ministers and a former British ambassador to Lebanon, said the Iranian salvo was a “chilling signal of Iran's capabilities and reach”.
It warned that the leaders of both Iran and Israel are “under pressure domestically, facing international criticism, and are clearly prepared to play with fire.”
But he told the BBC that Iran's unprecedented attack appeared to have been carefully orchestrated.
“Iran telegraphed these attacks in advance, which made it easier to deter,” he said, adding that during his time as ambassador to Lebanon, “the intent is to demonstrate capability, but not necessarily to escalate” firefights. compared with.
He also said it was “positive” that Iran chose to respond directly rather than through Hezbollah. Some Israelis have called on the military to escalate the confrontation with Lebanese militants and push them back from the border.
Sanam Vakil of the Chatham House think tank said the attack was a success from Iran's perspective and that Tehran was “calling Israel's bluff.”
“This is the first time that Iran has directly violated and violated Israel's sovereignty,” he told the BBC.
“The attack was certainly coordinated and directed at military installations with the goal of not causing undue damage or injuring anyone.”