9 October 2024

“Escalate to De-escalate”: What Led Iran to Attack Israel

Murtaza Hussain and Jeremy Scahill

On Tuesday evening, Iran launched a wave of ballistic missile attacks striking sites throughout Israel, in retaliation for its recent assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards officer Abbas Nilforoushan. Initial estimates claim that Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, with missiles reportedly targeting military airbases and other sites throughout the country.

“In response to the assassination of Martyr Haniyeh, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sardar Nilforoshan, we targeted important targets,” read a statement shared on Telegram channels linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “If the Zionist regime responds to our attack, our next attacks will be more devastating.” In a statement about the attack, the IRGC said that it had “targeted three military bases: Nevatim, which houses F-35 aircraft, Netzarim, which houses F-15 jets used in the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Tel Nof base near Tel Aviv with Fateh ballistic missiles.”

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