It’s ‘go’ on retaliation

Bibi set to strike

Israel has decided to hit Iran “clearly and forcefully” and is already preparing its warplanes to carry out the strike, according to a report on Monday.

The reported decision comes after two war-cabinet meetings in which leaders of the Jewish state debated how to respond to a barrage of 350 drones and missiles.

Israel’s Channel 12 news carried the report — which was widely picked up in local media.

Channel 12 said the country’s air force — which includes US-made F-16, F-15 and F-35 fighter jets — is already gearing up to deliver a retaliatory counterstrike against the rogue Islamic nation, though no timeline was provided.

According to the report, the strike is intended as a message that Israel “will not allow an attack of that magnitude against it to pass without a reaction.”

However, Israeli leaders also hope the response will not spark a wider war, the unsourced report said.

President Biden and allies have urged Israel to exercise restraint, with Biden reportedly telling Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would not join a counterattack.

Israel’s military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi confirmed Monday that Iran’s actions “will be met with a response” but he also declined to elaborate.

At a White House press briefing Monday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called Iran’s missile attack against Israel “a spectacular and embarrassing failure” and said the key US ally is in “a far stronger strategic position” today than before the attack.

Kirby deferred questions about whether he expected the US to be briefed ahead of an Israeli military response.

“That is an Israeli decision to make. Whether and how they’ll respond to what Iran did on Saturday we’re going to leave squarely with them.”

Iran’s aerial assault was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in Damascus on April 1 in which a top Iranian general was killed.