 Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting Iranian drones over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. (Photo: X) |
Iran's direct attack on Israel on the night of April 13 marks a moment of historic change. The 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles and 110 surface-to-surface missiles, launched from Iranian soil, from Iraq and from Yemen are the point at which Tehran's long campaign against the Jewish state left the realm of ambiguity and feint, and entered the overt stage.
In my apartment in Jerusalem, listening to the booms of the interceptors in the night sky, I thought about the many milestones in Israel's long confrontation-by-proxy with the Islamic Republic that had led to this moment. The security zone war against Hezbollah from 1985-2000. The local Islamist insurgency of 2000-04 we still call the Second Intifada. The war of 2006. The various campaigns in Gaza culminating in the war that began on October 7, 2023. All leading up to this moment when the Iranians chose to dispense with the maintenance of deniability, and confront Israel head-on.
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Jonathan Spyer is director of research at the Middle East Forum and director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis. He is author of Days of the Fall: A Reporter's Journey in the Syria and Iraq Wars (2018).
