Israel responds to Iran’s barrage with a symbolic strike

The Economist-April19th2024

Both were aerial strikes on military bases, but the similarities end there. The Iranian barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones aimed at Israel on April 13th—its response to the deadly air strike two weeks earlier at the Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus—could not have been more public. Officials announced it whilst the projectiles were still in flight, and their path across the Middle East was tracked by social-media videos that showed them streaking across the night sky.

Israel’s apparent retaliation five nights later, on the other hand, was shrouded in the fog of war. Hours after it began, there has been no official confirmation from Israel, and only the sketchiest details have emerged from Iran. The strike was of a limited scale so Iran may not feel compelled to retaliate again. Still, after decades of clandestine warfare, the Middle East’s two strongest powers have now exchanged blows on each other’s territory—an ominous precedent.

What is clear is that, in the early hours of April 19th, Iran activated its air defences at an air base near the central city of Isfahan. It also temporarily grounded flights in Isfahan and several other locations, including the capital, Tehran. Unnamed American officials leaked that Israel had fired missiles at its longtime foe, though other reports point to it using a small number of drones.

Iran sought to downplay the incident. A state-television correspondent told viewers that everything was calm in Isfahan and that the explosions heard by residents were from Iranian air defences, not incoming projectiles. A spokesman for Iran’s space agency said that three small drones had been shot down and the attack foiled. Social-media accounts linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (irgc) circulated stock photos of tiny quadcopters to mock the size of the attack.

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