Why did Iran attack Israel?

On Saturday evening, Iran launched a series of drone, rocket and rocket attacks on Israel.

The attack was is seen as an unprecedented escalation of the long-running conflict in the Middle East, which flared up after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Iran's attack on Israel is the latest development in a long shadow war. .

Why did Iran attack Israel?

Iranian officials have threatened to respond to an unprecedented airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). along with several other officers.

Israel has never officially claimed responsibility for the April 1 attack, but is widely believed to be behind it.

Zahedi was in charge of Iran's operations in Syria and Lebanon and was reportedly involved in the “planning and execution” of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, when the terrorist group killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200. Iran denies any involvement.

< p>This makes it the highest-profile killing since the 2020 US airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran's elite Quds Force.

Why did Israel attack the Iranian consulate?

Since the Hamas attack on October 7, Israel has fought off almost daily rocket attacks from the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in northern Israel.

Firing along the border was largely limited, with both sides apparently keen to avoid a major escalation.

But in recent weeks, Israel has begun upping the ante, striking Hezbollah fighters much deeper into Lebanon and even striking several Iranian targets in Syria.

But none were as significant as the attack April 1 – both on where the strike took place and who it killed.

As commander in charge of Iran's operations in Lebanon, Zahedi regularly met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and played a crucial role in the delivery militants with Iranian-made missiles, sources told The Telegraph.

Zahedi was killed in an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1. Photo: ZUMAPRESS.com/Avalon

Also present at the Iranian consulate in April. The first was his deputy, Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, who oversaw the entire Middle East, including coordinating attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Western shipping targets in the Red Sea.

The meeting of IRGC officials gave Israel a “very, very rare opportunity” to kill some of its archrival's most senior commanders at once, according to an Israeli source quoted by Reuters. “This is not something that a country at war would refuse.”

The attack served two purposes.

It was intended to disrupt Iranian supplies and coordination with Hezbollah, and also serve as a warning: Israel could strike Iran wherever it is.

Some in the Israeli media have questioned the validity of this, saying that killing a senior Iranian commander would not fundamentally improve Israel's security in the region.< /p>

p>How will Israel retaliate?

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini has long been seen as a prudent leader seeking to avoid a head-on confrontation with Israel that could cause serious damage to a regime that has already clashed with the general public . dissatisfaction.

Despite the long war in the Gaza Strip, the IDF still has an enviable stockpile of precision-guided weapons capable of reaching Iran.