More than 100 people were injured on Saturday by Iranian strikes in the cities of Dimona and Arad in southern Israel, “after Israeli air defenses failed to intercept at least two ballistic missiles,” as reported by The Times of Israel.
“Iranian state media claimed that these strikes targeted the Israeli nuclear research center, located about 10 kilometers from Dimona and 30 kilometers from Arad, in retaliation for a presumed American attack on the Iranian uranium enrichment site of Natanz earlier in the day,” stated the Israeli headline.
Iran attributed this attack to the United States and Israel, although the Israeli army denied any involvement. The United States neither confirmed nor denied.
According to Israeli emergency services, “at least 27 people were injured in Dimona, including a teenager who suffered serious injuries from missile shrapnel impact,” detailed Ha’Aretz. “In Arad, about 84 people were injured, including ten in serious condition.”
These Iranian strikes, which managed to “bypass the formidable Israeli air defenses,” “demonstrate that Tehran is still capable of inflicting damage, even after three weeks of devastating aerial strikes carried out by the United States and Israel,” noted The New York Times.
“Dynamics of retaliation” – “If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the highly protected area of Dimona, operationally, it marks the entry into a new phase of the battle,” proclaimed Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, president of the Iranian Parliament, quoted by Politico.
Indeed, with these strikes on Arad and Dimona, “the Revolutionary Guards have reached an additional target: to prove that the military hierarchy still functions and that some targets are not chosen randomly,” reiterated Il Corriere della Sera.
“Iran wants to maintain a dynamic of retaliation,” explained expert Danny Citrinowicz to the Italian newspaper. “This is the law of retaliation: what you do to us, we will do to you. And even worse. They are strengthening their deterrent capability, it’s not about random retaliation.”
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