Israel’s military chief says that Israel will respond to Iran’s weekend missile attack

[Pelican Press 0]

*******’s military chief says that ******* will respond to Iran’s weekend missile *******

*******’s military chief said Monday that his country will respond to 

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 but he did not elaborate on when and how as world leaders urged ******* not to retaliate, trying to avoid a spiral of ********* in the Middle East.

The Iranian ******* on Saturday came in retaliation for a suspected ******** strike two weeks earlier on an Iranian consular building in the Syrian capital of Damascus that 

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. It marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military ******** on ******* despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran launched 

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 at ******* in the *******. The ******** military said that 99% of the drones and missiles were intercepted, by *******’s own air defenses and warplanes and in coordination with a U.S.-led coalition of partners.

******** military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Monday that ******* is considering its next steps but that the Iranian strike “will be met with a response.”

Halevi gave no details. The army’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said ******* will respond “at the time that we choose.”

Both men spoke at the Nevatim air base in southern *******, which Hagari said suffered only light damage in the Iranian *******.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been huddling with top officials to discuss a possible response. For a second straight day, the government made no announcements on any decisions.

In a conversation with U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Netanyahu said that “******* will do whatever is required to defend itself,” the prime minister’s office announced.

While ******** leaders have hinted at retaliation, the government is under heavy international pressure not to further escalate the conflict — especially after the Iranian strike caused such little damage.

The U.S. has urged ******* to show restraint as it seeks to build a broad diplomatic response. The Group of Seven advanced democracies issued a ****** statement “unequivocally condemning in the strongest terms” the Iranian ******* while expressing “full solidarity and support to *******.”

The U.S. also has been working in recent years to strengthen ties between ******* and moderate ***** states in an alliance to counter Iran.

Much of that cooperation has been under the umbrella of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East. Centcom works closely with militaries across the region, including *******, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other ***** countries.

The U.S., Britain and Jordan — a key ********* ally in the region — have all said their air forces helped intercept the Iranian missiles and drones. Halevia said France and “other partners” were involved, and he noted that “Iran’s ******* has created new opportunities for cooperation in the Middle East.”

The Iranian weapons also flew through Saudi skies, according to a map released by the ******** military. ******* says most of the interceptions took place outside of ******** airspace, indicating at least tacit cooperation with the Saudis.

A unilateral ******** strike could strain these behind-the-scenes contacts, particularly with countries like Saudi Arabia that do not have official diplomatic relations with *******. It also could risk opening a new front with Iran at a time when ******* is bogged down in a six-month war inside Gaza 

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.

******* and Iran have been on a collision course throughout the Gaza war. The war erupted after ****** and Islamic ******, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border ******* on Oct. 7 that ******* 1,200 people in ******* and kidnapped 250 others.

*******’s offensive in Gaza has ******* over 33,700 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and caused widespread devastation.

Throughout the war, ******* has traded ***** across its northern border with Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, while Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen have also attacked *******. The friction has kept up fears of a potentially destructive all-out war between ******* and Hezbollah, or a broader direct confrontation between ******* and Iran.

World leaders pressed ******* not to strike Iran.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “all sides must show restraint” to avoid a rising spiral of ********* in the Middle East. French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris will try to “convince ******* that we must not respond by escalating.”

In Washington, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to say Monday whether the U.S. had been or expects to be briefed on any ******** response plans. “We will let the Israelis speak to that,” he said.

“We are not involved in their decision-making process about a potential response,” Kirby said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. doesn’t seek escalation but said it would continue to support *******’s security. He pledged to step up the diplomatic efforts against Iran.

“Strength and wisdom need to be different sides of the same coin,” he said.

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