In the early hours of April 19, Israel's retaliation officially began, with explosions in Iran, Syria and Iraq, and U.S. officials confirming that Israeli missiles had hit a strip in Iran.
The attack was not surprising, as the Israeli military had said two days earlier that it would retaliate against Iran, but what the outside world did not expect was that the attack would come so quickly.
Israel launched airstrikes in the early hours of the morning
Another noteworthy detail is that at the same time as Israel's attack on Iran, air raid sirens sounded in northern Israeli cities, and it is likely that Allah Lebanon is supporting Iran in the rear and creating pressure on Israel. It can be seen from this that these Iranian "brothers" in the arc of resistance also have a tacit understanding, and revenge will be avenged on the spot.
Judging from the timeline, in the early morning of April 14, Iranian missiles and drones just attacked Israel in retaliation for Israel's blatant blow up of the Iranian embassy in Syria.
However, Iran's air defense system is also very effective, and it is said that it intercepted and shot down a number of Israeli drones in the Isfahan area, but as for what exactly is the target of the Israeli air strike?
Iranian nuclear facilities
It has been reported that Israel is intending to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, because the site of the explosion is very close to the main town of Iran's nuclear facilities, which inevitably raises suspicions that Israel intends to take a risk.
In 2010, a virus broke into the control system of a nuclear facility in Iran's Natanz area, which paralyzed the system, and Iran's nuclear program was delayed for two years.
However, in any case, Israel has not brazenly launched air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities in the past, and from the objective point of view, the reason is that several nuclear facilities in Iran are generally deployed in the hinterland, more than 1,000 kilometers away from Israel, and have exceeded the combat radius of the Israeli Air Force.
Israeli Air Force
In addition, Iran has also consciously strengthened the protection of nuclear facilities in recent years, moving many key equipment underground, which greatly increases the difficulty of Israeli air strikes.
On the other hand, from a subjective point of view, the United States does not dare to allow Israel to go too far on this issue, although the United States and the European Union have been pressuring Iran to stop nuclear weapons tests in recent years, but they have only forced Iran to make concessions through economic sanctions, and it is possible to force Iran to make a mistake by brazenly using military means to strike.
Therefore, when Israel launched an attack on Iran, US officials immediately claimed that the nuclear facilities were not the target of the Israeli air strike, and the Israeli side also claimed that the actions were "limited", and even Iran came forward to clarify that the nuclear facilities in Isfahan Province were in a safe state, and the explosion was caused by the Iranian missile shooting down the Israeli drone.
U.S. President Joe Biden
The fact that both the United States and Iran have denied it is enough to show the seriousness of the matter, as far as Iran is concerned, having equipment that can manufacture nuclear weapons in its hands is the key to its survival in the Middle East situation, and if it is damaged, it will be difficult to form an effective deterrent to Israel and the United States behind it, so this must not be allowed to happen.
Therefore, for the United States and Iran, although the two sides are fighting fiercely on the surface, in fact, they both know very well where the bottom line is, and they will not easily provoke a major war in the Middle East. But the problem is that now that Israel is taking more and more tentative steps, it is already a bit of a cost to pull the United States into the water.
From the initial large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip, to the bombing of the Iranian embassy in Syria, to the now blatanic airstrikes against targets in Iran, Netanyahu's government has made decisions that have become more risky and clear: to expand the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Although Iran has also carried out corresponding retaliatory actions before, including launching air strikes on targets in Israel, this is more of a symbolic action and has not caused substantial damage to Israeli military facilities, which shows that Iran itself does not want to make a big deal out of it, so it has tried to exercise restraint.
But now Israel is no longer satisfied with the "small fight" with Iran, and is constantly escalating its strike methods, repeatedly testing Iran's bottom line, and forcing Iran to get involved in this Middle East conflict.
And once Iran is gone, the United States will have to take action in person in order to keep Israel, and Netanyahu's goal will be achieved. Therefore, the current situation in the Middle East seems complicated, but in fact it is not difficult to understand, and it depends on whether the United States can tie Israel's hand.