When Israel responds to the unprecedented weekend Iranian drone and missile salvoes, its aim will be to send a message of deterrence to Tehran while drawing a line under this round of hostilities, a senior Israeli lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Among Israeli considerations in planning a counter-strike are the war-wariness of Westerns powers, the risk to air crews from any sorties against Iran and the need to keep focus on the more than half-year-long Gaza offensive, Yuli Edelstein said.
"We'll have to react. Iranians will know we reacted. And I sincerely hope that it will teach them a lesson that you can't attack a sovereign country just because you find it doable," said Edelstein, who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
But he added: "I sincerely hope that they will understand that the it's not in their interest to continue this kind of exchange of blows. We are not interested in a full-scale war. We are not, as I have said, in the business of revenge."
Israeli officials say the response to the Iranian attacks will be agreed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet. Edelstein, a former cabinet minister from Netanyahu's Likud party whose role now involves reviewing government decisions, did not make clear to what extent he had been briefed on operational plans.
-Reuters Photo
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told Vladimir Putin by telephone that Tehran's strikes on Israel were limited and that the Islamic Republic was not interested in escalating, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, news agency Reuters reported on Tuesday.
President Putin expressed hope that all sides would show reasonable restraint and so prevent a fall towards a confrontation that could have "catastrophic consequences for the entire region," the Kremlin said.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on Monday night said Tehran's response to any Israeli retaliation would come in "a matter of seconds, as Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond".
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel on Tuesday for discussions on how to prevent an escalation of tensions in the region following Iran's attack over the weekend.
An easyJet Airbus A320-214 Aircraft.
Credit: Reuters Photo
British budget airline EasyJet on Tuesday suspended flights to Israel until October 27 citing the security situation in the Middle East.
"As a result of the continued evolving situation in Israel, easyJet has now taken the decision to suspend its flights to Tel Aviv for the remainder of the summer season," a spokesperson said in a statement, after the airline on Sunday paused flights to the Israeli city, new agency Reuters reported.