After the raid in Damascus that killed a Pasdaran general, Iran attacks Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles launched during the night. 99 percent were intercepted by air defenses, says Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari. But the tension is very high.
The unprecedented move is justified as a "right to self-defense" : Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Saed Iravani, sent a letter to the presidency of the UN Security Council and to the secretary general Antonio Guterres stating that the attack against Israel «is part of the exercise of Tehran's right to self-defense, enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, and in response to recurrent Israeli military aggression and in particular after the raid on April 1 ».
“We intercepted them, we repelled them, together we will win,” writes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a short post on X.
During the night, American President Joe Biden heard from Netanyahu: the United States will not support a possible counterattack by Israel against Iran, he told him, as reported by Axios. The US will not participate in any offensive operation against Tehran and will not support such an operation.
Biden then asked Netanyahu to consider the night a "victory" given that, from initial assessments, the attack was unsuccessful.
“No decisions” have been made yet on an Israeli response, an official source told the Times of Israel. The War Cabinet is expected to be held later today, although according to CNN, Israel has already decided to respond, but the extent of the reaction has yet to be established . Iran also appealed to Israel not to react : "The issue can be considered closed like this," said the Iranian representation at the UN. “But if the Israeli regime makes another mistake, the response will be considerably harsher,” Ambassador Saed Iravani said.
Meanwhile, NATO condemns the night attack and speaks of an "escalation" of regional instability, urgently calling for "moderation" on all sides. «We condemn the Iranian nightly escalation, we call for moderation, while we monitor events closely. It is vitally important that the conflict in the Middle East does not spiral out of control,” said Atlantic Alliance spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah.
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THE DAY:
The G7 meets
According to what we understand, a G7 meeting via videoconference has been scheduled, called by the Italian presidency after Iran's attack on Israel. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will connect to the summit from Palazzo Chigi.
(Unioneonline)