What happened?

  • The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency session to address the “extremely dangerous situation” in the Middle East after Iran’s direct response to the targeting of an Iranian consular building in Damascus, Syria. [aawsat.com, arabnews.com, bbc.com]
  • Iran launched a direct attack from its territory on Israel, with over 300 missiles and drones, in response to an attack that targeted the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month. [almasryalyoum.com, bbc.com, ft.com, kp.ru]
  • The U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the past week, which helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles from Iran, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. [axios.com]
  • Most of Iran’s drones and missiles (99%) were shot down by Israel, the US, and allied forces before reaching their targets. [almasryalyoum.com, axios.com, bbc.com]
  • The UN Secretary-General strongly condemned the “serious escalation” of the Iranian attack on Israel and called for an immediate cessation of these hostile acts. [aawsat.com]
  • Biden and his senior advisers are highly concerned that an Israeli response to Iran’s attack on Israel would lead to a regional war with catastrophic consequences. [axios.com]
  • Israel stated that it will take action against Iran “in the way and time of our choosing”. [bbc.com]
  • Pressure has now increased on US lawmakers to pass additional military aid to Israel, and Republicans plan to call for a vote in Congress in the coming days. [ft.com]

What is Arab media saying?

  • It falls to US President Joe Biden to prevent subsequent rounds of escalation from blinding the entire Middle East, or even the world. [english.aawsat.com]
  • Biden must punish Iran diplomatically but also restrain Israel, which will be unfathomably hard. [english.aawsat.com]
  • Experts said the Iranian strike on Israel preserved Tehran’s face, and even if the attack was not a complete military deterrent, it at least kept Israel on alert day and night in the context of the war of nerves. [almasryalyoum.com]
  • Experts said the Iranian response came in contrast to the “strategy of patience” adopted by Tehran, noting that the attack greatly weakened the Israel’s power in the face of the world, and that without the presence of America and its allies, Israel would have been crushed. [almasryalyoum.com]

What is Israeli media saying?

  • Israeli PM Benny Gantz and PM Gadi Eisenkot, both part of Netanyahu’s coalition, argued that the longer Israel waited to respond, the less international support it would have, and an immediate counterattack could stave off another wave of attacks. [jpost.com]
  • Netanyahu and other members of the war cabinet rejected an immediate counterattack, opting to wait and see the extent of the damage caused by the Iranian attack. [jpost.com]
  • Netanyahu reportedly wanted to wait until he spoke with US President Joe Biden before launching a counterstrike. [jpost.com]
  • One official was quoted as saying that there were several options for retaliation, but the call with Biden stopped it. [jpost.com]

Sources:

  • Asharq Al-Awsat (aawsat.com)
  • Al-Masry Al-Youm (almasryalyoum.com)
  • Arab News (arabnews.com)
  • BBC (bbc.com)
  • Axios (axios.com)
  • The Economic Times (economictimes.indiatimes.com)
  • Financial Times (ft.com)
  • Komsomolskaya Pravda (kp.ru)
  • The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
  • The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com)