Israel's 'Iran-Lite' strike: Was it just Act 1?
As a young boy occasionally able to attend the Washington, D.C., July 4 fireworks, I always excitedly awaited the big bang illuminating the nighttime sky with an impressive array of "bombs bursting in air" signaling the end of the show. For those who expected a similar show in Israel's retaliatory attack against Iran on April 19, it was an obvious surprise to learn Israel conducted an "Iran-Lite" strike that reportedly did limited damage.
In the early morning hours of Friday, three explosions were heard in the northern and eastern regions of the province of Isfahan, where Iran has a military base. Iranian news reported these blasts were from the country's air defense systems firing at an incoming missile attack and that its nuclear sites remained "absolutely safe."
While Israel failed to do its intelligence homework to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas raid into the country, it does have an impressive record of doing its homework prior to conducting offensive operations. Accordingly, Israel's Lite venture into Iran may well ultimately prove to have been only of an exploratory nature, simply testing Iran's defenses to wean intelligence therefrom prior to launching a much more devastating strike against the mullahs. Often in warfare between Israel and its neighbors in the region, the latter have failed to grasp the ingenuity of which the former has proven capable in circumventing enemy defenses during offensive operations.
For example, on June 7, 1981, initiating Operation Opera, Israel launched 14 aircraft to attack and destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor in Osirak. They successfully completed their mission without taking a single casualty. They did so with a low technology platform – pigeons. While there has been a long history in warfare of pigeons being used to transmit written messages between units, the Israelis created a new role for these feathered weapons of war. The ability of Iraqi radar to pick up incoming Israeli aircraft was somewhat negated by pigeons flying to Iraqi radar sites with strips of aluminum dangling from their claws. This helped to disrupt the radar picture, allowing the approaching Israeli aircraft to reach their target undetected.
Interestingly, a country that quietly supported the success of Operation Opera is the same country Israel targets today – Iran. In 1981, Iraq was led by Saddam Hussein who was no friend of Iran's mullahs. Iraq had invaded Iran in September 1980 after the mullahs had shelled several Iraqi border posts. That conflict would last eight years.
While Israel's April 19 attack probably accomplished little more than Iran's April 14 attack against Israel from the standpoint of physical destruction, a gambling man would wager Israel is in the process of evaluating what it has learned about Iran's defenses to put together an attack that will have a more devastating impact.
Stay tuned. The night skies over Iran undoubtedly may well be illuminated sometime in the near future. If so, it will not be signaling an Iranian celebration but something far from it. As Iranian leaders suggest the April 19 Israeli attack was a whimper, they may have yet to experience the roar.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
The post Israel's 'Iran-Lite' strike: Was it just Act 1? appeared first on WND.