Israel says it will respond to Iran attack as world leaders urge restraint
Israel’s military chief saidmonday that the country will respond after Iran launched an attack involving hundreds of dr ones, ballistic missile sand cruise missiles. World leaders are urging Israel not to retaliate.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says “all sides must show restraint” to avoid a rising spiral of violence in themiddle East. French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris will try to “convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating.”
The Iranian attack on Saturday marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The attack happened less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building.
An Israeli military spokesman said that 99% of the drones and missiles launched by Iran were intercepted.
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others.
An Israeli offensive in gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,700 people, according to local health officials.
Us air force jets, navy ships helped take out iran’s missiles, drones
The Pentagon says Air Force fighter jet squadrons in the region as well as Navy ships in the mediterranean Sea participated in the effort to take out Iranian missiles and drones.
The USS Carney and the USS Arleigh burke, both navy destroyers, shot down missiles from the sea
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said Monday that some additional fighter squadrons were moved into the region before the weekend, and they remain there. He would not identify the countries where they were based.
Israel’s military chief has said the Iranian strike “will be met with a response.” Asked about that, Ryder said any response is up to Israel to decide. But he added that, “We don’t want to see escalation, but we obviously will take necessary measures to protect our forces in the region.”
Pressed on whether such a response would be counter productive to stability in the region, he said the u.s. will “stay inclose consultation with our Israeli partners, as we have done throughout the weekend. Again, we don’t seek wider regional conflict.”
Palestinian officials say 2 killed inwest Bank
Palestinian officials say two Palestinian men have been killed in an attack by Israeli settlers in the northern West Bank.
The area has been tense in recent days after a 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed in what Israel said was a nationalistic attack.
Settlers have responded with assaults in a number of Palestinian communities, despite calls by Israeli leaders not to take the law into their own hands.
The Palestinian office of civilian affairs says the two men, ages 21 and 30, were shot dead in Monday’s attack in the town of aqraba, near Nablus.
The Israeli army said a violent confrontation occurred in the area between Israeli and Palestinian civilians, and that troops rushed to disperse the crowds. It said its initial investigation determined the Palestinians had not been shot by army fire. It said Israeli police and the army were investigating.
Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war began, with over 460 Palestinian skilled by Israeli fire during that time, according to Palestinian health officials.
Pro-palestinian demonstrators block traffic into Chicago airport
Pro-palestinian demonstrators blocked a freeway leading to three Chicago O’hare International Airport terminals Monday morning, temporarily stopping vehicle traffic into one of the nation’s busiest airports and causing headaches for travelers.
Protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 around 7 a.m., a demonstration they said was part of a global “economic blockade to free Palestine,” according to Rifqa Falaneh, one of the organizers. Similar demonstrations blocking a freeway in California’s Bay Area also took place Monday.
O’hare warned travelers on the social platformx to take alternative forms of transportation with car travel “substantially delayed this morning due to protest activity.”
UN Security Council concerned about risk of escalation
A United Nations Security Council meeting on Yemen on Monday touched on the risk of escalation after Iran’s attack on Israel.
Diplomats are calling this “a particularly dangerous moment in the Middle East.”