Social media is lit up like Times Square on New Year’s Eve with reports that Israel, finally, delivered on its vow to attack Iran. And attack it did. Here is the video.
Ok. I sent this to my brother-in-law and he asked, “Are you fu*king with me?” No, not really. Yes, that is a clip from the Matrix Reloaded, but it is an accurate representation of the failure of Israel’s attack. The explosions heard around Tehran reportedly came from the Russian-supplied air defense systems, which launched and apparently destroyed the Israeli missiles.
If the early reports from Iran are confirmed — i.e., no significant damage to any target in Iran — then the Netanyahu cabinet are going to be taking some big doses of Xanax. If this is the case, then Israel’s attack was an abject failure. It appears that Israel launched ballistic cruise missiles from aircraft outside the territory of Iran. It also appears that the Russian-supplied air defense systems did their job, along with electronic warfare systems, and defeated the Israeli attack.
What does that mean for Iran’s response? I suspect that Russia will encourage them to take-the-win and not retaliate. Iran will have proved that it can penetrate Israel’s air space at will, but that Israel cannot penetrate Iranian air space.
If Israel did succeed in hitting some military targets in Iran — which is highly doubtful at this time based on reports on Iran’s Press TV — then we can expect Iran will hit Israel and inflict damage in the next 24 hours. But, after watching comments from several Iranian pundits (e.g., Professor Marandi), there is no air of anger or calls for revenge. I think Iranian TV may start playing the Peggy Lee song, Is that All There Is.
Here is a just published social media video that apparently shows Iran’s air defense-system going to work on the Israeli missiles.
Alastair Crooke and I discussed this yesterday. My editors just posted the video a bit ago. We examine the various options facing Israel and Iran.
Reprinted with permission from SONAR21.
