ESCALATION SPIRAL: ON THE ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT

Israel’s unprovoked aggression against Iran has not only plunged West Asia into its gravest regional crisis since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war but also pushed the Jewish nation into an unprecedented security calamity.

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If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expected the June 13 attack on Iran, hitting its nuclear facilities and assassinating its top generals and nuclear scientists, to cripple Tehran — like how Israel destroyed the Egyptian air force on June 5, 1967 during the Six-Day War — he appears to have made a mistake. Iran, in a swift and forceful response, rained ballistic missiles on Israeli cities.

Until Monday morning, it had fired over 370 missiles, hitting an oil refinery in Haifa, a top research institute in Rehovot near Tel Aviv and even residential areas. At least 24 Israelis have been killed and over 500 wounded. While Israel has established air supremacy in Iran, it has not managed to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, which is dispersed and buried across the country.