By Paul Dada
An out-and-out war may ensue following the attack of Israel on dozens of ,targets including nuclear facilities, military commanders and scientists in Iran.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu justified the attack which was dubbed the “Rising Lion” claiming it was aimed at rolling back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.
The Israeli military also said Iran had launched 100 drones aimed at Israel and the focus was on intercepting them.
“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme,” Netanyahu said in a recorded televised address. “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponisation programme. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz. We targeted Iran’s leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile programme,” Netanyahu said.
Suggesting that there would be no let up in the hostilities, Netanyahu said “Israeli citizens may have to remain in sheltered areas for lengthy periods of time.”
Meanwhile, Iran is still counting its losses.
According to the Iranian state media, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen Hossein Salami, the army chief of staff, Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, and the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia joint forces headquarters, Maj Gen Gholamali Rashid, were killed in the Israeli strikes.
Six nuclear scientists, including Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013, were also killed in the attack.
The Iranian state television reported that children had been killed in at least one of the airstrikes, on a residential area of Tehran.
Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, threatened that Israel must await a severe punishment.
“In the enemy’s attacks, several commanders and scientists were martyred. Their successors and colleagues will immediately carry on their duties, God willing,” Khamenei said.
“With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared a bitter and painful fate for itself – and it will undoubtedly receive it,” Khamenei fumed.
Although the US President Donald Trump had reportedly told Israel not go ahead with the attack as US was still negotiating with Iran, he said he was not surprised that it happened.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back,” Trump told Fox News.
He said should Iran retaliate, the US would be forced to defend itself and Israel.
