Risk of Israel's 'forever wa is hitting home in Tel Aviv

With luggage, pets and a cup of strong coffee, Tel Aviv residents bombed out of their homes by Iran sat contemplating their role in international affairs with either a shrug or anger.

- SAM KILEY

Their lives ruined, like so many ruined by Israel in Iran and Gaza, it's the "what next" for the region that puts them centre stage.

Leor Eldan was sheltering under the stairs after sirens announced the approach of Iranian missiles fired after the US joined Israel's war on Tehran. "We heard big bombs. Terrible," she said.

It's often the small details that stick in the head - "the dishwasher door was open and everything inside was smashed".

Donald Trump claims to have broken more than crockery in Iran. After the US fired 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles and dropped six bunker buster bombs on the Fordow nuclear site, the US president claimed to have "totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear capability.

This is an assessment he plucked out of his head. Fordow's nuclear facilities are half a mile inside a mountain, and while conceivably vulnerable to the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, it will be days before the US can tell if its raid was successful.

But to people in Tel Aviv, where there is broad support for Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign to rid Iran of nuclear weapons and trigger regime change in the Islamic Republic, there is a growing fear that Israel is sliding into a forever war.