Former Israeli PM urges to target Iran’s nuclear facilities

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said Israel should launch its own attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear program and its energy facilities, as Tehran and its allies—Hezbollah and Hamas—are weakened.

“Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East,” Bennett said, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

In addition, Uzi Rubin, the former head of Israel’s missile defence unit and one of the founders of the country’s air defence programs, said April’s attack was easier to defend because it involved cruise missiles and drones fired from Iran, giving the Israeli military plenty of warning time. The attack on October 1, by contrast, was entirely with ballistic missiles, which arrived from Iran within 15 minutes. 

A good interception rate for ballistic missiles is above 80%, he said, which the Israeli military achieved in April. Ultimately, there wasn’t enough information yet to properly assess how effective the Israeli air defences were, he said. 

Meanwhile, the Financial Times quoted unnamed sources as saying that Israel does not consider strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities as a potential response to Tehran.

“Some Israeli officials have called for strikes on nuclear sites, although a person familiar with the matter said it was not being considered,” the publication said.

The sources said that the US and other Western allies are urging Israel to focus on military objectives. At the same time, US officials recognize that their influence on Israel may be limited.

Moreover, Iran has warned that any Israeli retaliation to the recent attack will be met with “further crushing and destructive acts.”

In April, Iran launched its first-ever attack on Israeli soil following Israel’s killing of another senior military commander in an airstrike in the Syrian capital, Damascus. In that attack, Iran fired 120 ballistic missiles, 30 cruise missiles and more than 150 drones, an assault fended off by Israel, the US and other allies. 

Iran had telegraphed that attack for days ahead of time, giving Israel and the US time to prepare, whereas Tehran sent a message to Arab officials only on September 30 night that it was going to launch an attack this time. A large number of missiles were intercepted, some of them shot at by American forces in the region.

By Aghakazim Guliyev