Israel Targets Iran in New War Goal

November 11, 2024

by: Joshua Spurlock ~ Middle East Update

Monday, 11 November 2024 | Israel has quietly added a new goal to their multi-front fight against Iran’s terror network: confronting Iran directly. “I am confident we will achieve victory in this war, whose objectives are to stop Iranian aggression and deny its capabilities, continue dismantling Hamas as a governing and military force, and defeat Hezbollah,” said new Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on.

The comments come after Israel openly responded to Iran’s second missile attack on the Jewish country with a counterstrike in late October.

Addressing Iran directly in the list of Israel’s war goals could be significant. Earlier this year, Israel started directly referencing the threat from Hezbollah in its war goals, and not long thereafter launched a series of devastating attacks against the Lebanese terror group—including the targeted pager attacks and leadership assassinations.

While there had been speculation Israel would hit Iran’s nuclear or energy facilities in their much-anticipated response last month, the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] instead restrained their attacks to targets such as Iran’s air defense and missile production capabilities. Iran has threatened yet another attack in response, and Israel has warned they could do even more damage next time. Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in an October press release that Israel’s attack on Iran’s air defenses “creates a huge disadvantage for the enemy when we will want to strike later.”

It remains unclear if Israel has expanded their list of Iranian targets and whether Israel will actually strike Iran again. However, in a press release around the October Israeli strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The supreme objective that I have set for the IDF and the security services is to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.

“Halting the nuclear program has been—and remains—our chief concern. I have not taken, we have not taken and we will not take, our eyes off this objective. Obviously, I cannot detail our plans to achieve this supreme goal.”

For his part, Katz identified a different top goal for the war effort in his comments during his taking of office on Friday. “The first moral goal is bringing the hostages home,” said Katz of the almost 100 hostages that Hamas kidnapped and remain in Gaza. “Here, as Defense Minister, I also place the goal of returning the hostages at the top of the [Defense Ministry’s] moral priorities.”

Even still, addressing the threat from Iran remains a key priority and a concern shared by the US.

“We will continue to defend our state and our citizens in every arena, against any threat, especially the Iranian threat,” said Netanyahu on Sunday.

“In recent days, I have spoken three times with US President-elect Donald Trump. These were very good and important talks designed to further enhance the steadfast bond between Israel and the US. We see eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, and on the dangers they reflect. We also see the great opportunities facing Israel, in the area of peace and its expansion, and in other areas.”

Posted on November 11, 2024

Source: (This article was originally published by the Middle East Update on November 10, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today.)

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