Yom Shishee
Friday
11 Nisan 5784
April 19 2024
UPDATE 5:00 PM
Though it is always dangerous to say so in this Middle East neighborhood, it would appear that the “mini-war” with Iran has come to an end.
Iran accomplished what it wanted to by sending ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel. Never mind that virtually all of them were intercepted and hardly any damage was done, Iran answered the criticism leveled at it by its proxies of not doing anything to overtly fight Israel. And it demonstrated it is willing to hit Israel in Israel.
Israel, on the other hand, showed that our air defenses are effective. We retaliated today by attacking an Iranian AFB near Isfahan that has little to any actual value with still unknown weapons, nevertheless proving that we can hit deeply inside Iran at will.
Iran and Israel have both made it clear that they do not want any further escalation.
So where does this leave us?
Back to where we started with Iran arming to the teeth Hezbollah in Lebanon, various militias in Syria and Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen–and Israel regularly attacking these at every opportunity.
However, Hezbollah in particular has escalated its attacks in the north and probably is emboldened by what it may see as a weak Israeli response to the massive, if futile, Iranian attack.
On that worrisome note–but at least with some breathing space on the Iranian front–we wish our soldiers and you dear readers:
SHABBAT SHALOM!
UPDATE 11:00 AM
The Latest on Iran
We are 4 hours after our first update this morning, and we do not know much more than we did then about the Israeli strike in Iran.
Iran is doing everything it can to belittle the strike variously claiming there were no strikes, that only drones were involved, and that nothing was hit. According to an official statement in the last hour, Iran says that it is not seeking revenge at this time because it does not know who carried out the attack.
However, we now know from video evidence that the AFB near Isfahan was definitely bombed.
And we have reportage that at least 5 F35s were involved in the strike–probably the planes we heard roaring overhead last night. It is worthwhile remembering that an F35 does not need to be over a country in order to hit targets in the country. It is also being reported that the U.S. Air Force assisted Israel by providing reconnaissance and refueling.
9 targets were hit at the Hastam Shikari AFB near Isfahan, but the strike in Isfahan was at best symbolic.
Apparently some of the drones launched last Saturday from Iran were launched from the AFB. But typically, the base is only known for housing old F-14 Tomcat airplanes which were bought by Iran from the U.S. before 1979. The symbolism comes from the proximity of the base to an Iranian nuclear facility.
In short, if Israel can strike the AFB with ease, it can also hit the nuclear site.
UPDATE 7:00 AM
Breaking News
Israel has responded to the Iranian attack on Israel.
A flood of reports this morning as to what exactly happened early this morning: everything remains sketchy at this hour.
From the Israeli Government:
There has been no comment.
From Our Own Observation:
We knew an attack was underway last night because of the extraordinary number heavily-laden aircraft that roared over our roof for around 30 minutes. We purposely did not report on this.
From Israeli Media:
At this moment, we are watching video apparently taken by Iranians on the ground showing what appears to be intercepts in the air near Isfahan, and numerous large explosions on the ground apparently at the AFB near Isfahan.
From the Iranians:
*The attack was carried out by “Israeli elements” from Kurdistan in northern Iraq.
*All of the explosions heard in Iran were “in the air”; with no explosions on the ground.
*Iran’s official news agency confirms that the Hastam Shikari AFB near Isfahan was attacked. [Many of the missiles/drones launched against Israel last Saturday were from this base.]
*An emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council is now taking place.
From Iraqi Media:
*Israel attacked a building in Baghdad where a high-ranking meeting of Iranian proxies and member of the Revolutionary Guards was taking place.
*Israel also attacked targets in Syria.
More updates will come as more information becomes available.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.