Israel draws up plans for ‘increasingly likely’ war

Israel’s war cabinet met yesterday to discuss plans for retaliation after Iran’s unprecedented attack at the weekend, as an Israeli MP told i that the country was preparing for war on three fronts.

Israeli leaders have warned that there will be a response, despite pleas from world leaders for restraint to contain escalation.

Ministers are said to be divided on what form this should take, with options ranging from cyber attacks and strikes on Iran’s allies abroad to targeting military sites inside the Islamic Republic.

Western allies of Israel are driving efforts to impose diplomatic consequences on Iran to help persuade

Tel Aviv that a military response is not necessary.

Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said he was “leading a diplomatic attack” in seeking new sanctions targeting Iran’s missile programmes and the designation of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terror group.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, warned on Monday that Tehran would respond to any Israeli attack in “a matter of seconds”.

Israeli MP Sharren Haskel, who serves on the National Security Committee, told i that “all options are on the table” in response to what she called a “declaration of war” by Iran, adding that war looked “increasingly likely”. “What happened cannot happen again,” she said. “If it does happen again, we will probably end up in a full confrontation.”

Israel has extensive plans for a potential war with Iran, she said, with some elements dating back years and others added more recently.

Ms Haskel said Israel was grateful to members of a coalition and would co-ordinate with its allies over its response. But the decision over how and when to respond would be taken independently.

Israel claimed to have killed the commander of Hezbollah’s coastal sector in an air strike yesterday. The IDF said it had “struck and eliminated” Ismail Yusaf Baz in Ain Ebel, southern Lebanon.