Iran’s ballistic missile attacks against Israel on June 7 and June 8 were stunning yet not surprising.

Iran – Israel’s arch enemy and Hezbollah’s chief ally in the Middle East – attacked Israel in retaliation for an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh, a suburb south of Beirut and a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli aircraft bombed Dahiyeh after Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel.

Reacting to Israel’s strikes, the first ones in the Lebanese capital since May 28, a senior Iranian official promised Israel a “painful and decisive response.” Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesman for Iran’s parliament, posted an inflammatory message on X: “This rabid dog must be disciplined and put in its place. Watch the sky of the occupied territories tonight.”

Within hours, the first of some 30 Iranian missiles rained down on, among other targets, the Ramat David air base in northern Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said the facility had been targeted because the Israeli aircraft that bombed Dahiyeh had taken off from Ramat David.

Israel intercepted most the incoming missiles, and there appear to have been no casualties.

Responding to the barrage, the Israeli Air Force launched two waves of strikes across Iran focusing on military and economic sites, including Iran’s strategic defense systems and the vast petrochemical complex in Mahshahr. In addition, Israel conducted raids in Tehran, Isfahan, Kermanshah and Tabriz. Details of these operations have yet to be disclosed.

Israel’s raids led to further Iranian missile attacks in central Israel.

The clashes were the first direct exchanges of hostilities between Israel and Iran in two months.

Iran blamed the United States for Israel’s attacks, even though President Donald Trump asked Israel not to retaliate.

The current crisis stems from the United States’ and Israel’s attacks on Iran on February 28. A ceasefire on April 8 paused the fighting, but US efforts to end the war by diplomatic........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)