Iran said it launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel on Saturday in a major attack following days of acute tension building up in the region and warnings from the US and elsewhere about a wider conflict erupting.
Air attack warning sirens began wailing over Jerusalem just before 2am local time on Sunday after the weapons were fired a few hours earlier from Iran with US and Jordanian military assisting Israel’s air defenses in intercepting the first incoming barrage.
With weapons believed to be still in the air en route to Israel, Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted on X: “Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded.”
However, it threatened more severe action in the face of further Israeli aggression and warned the US and Jordan specifically not to assist Israel.
Edit: here are links to the NYT and BBC live feeds.
Edit 2: updated summary and archive to reflect article changes.
Israel offers absolutely no unique strategic value to U.S. trade or military logistics. There are nearby NATO countries, bases in nearby allied countries as well as carriers in the Med that more than cover us.
Israel is only a liability to us. They exacerbate tensions with our existing trade partners in the region and risk bringing us into unecessary conflicts.
turkey has a strategic position towards the bosporus and russia, why they get away with a lot of bullshit too, israel is a more important as a reliable foot on the ground for guaranteeing the north end of the suez canal and the eastern end of the mediterranean. Cyprus also plays that role, but is also contested area greece/turkey. Never put all your eggs in one basket, that kind of thing. Carriers are nice but a always a risk (they might not seem so now, but you never know). Israel also offers an extra access point north side of the red sea, would the suez be unaccessible.
I’m not at all saying the usa should just blindly follow israel on its warpath as it has been for many decades. They should try to get netanyahu towards the exit, sooner the better, but just leaving israel altogether is probably not in the best interest for the usa itself, long term geostrategically.