We can dispense with the fashionable solipsism at the outset. Iran’s direct attack on Israel over the weekend should not be the subject of wildly divergent interpretation. It was not “designed to fail” or an elaborately telegraphed de-escalatory overture masquerading as a destabilizing revision to the regional status quo. It was a radical and audacious assault on Israel, and its aim was to kill as many Israelis as possible.
In wave after wave, over 300 munitions were expended in a coordinated assault on Israel by both the Islamic Republic and the constellation of terrorist groups it controls. It was an unprecedented event. This was not a deniable spasm of violence perpetrated by Iran’s proxy forces or even the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It was conducted by the Iranian military proper. It was endorsed and announced by the regime. It was intended to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and culminate in “mass casualties and infrastructure damage,” as one senior American official told Semafor.
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