Israeli attack on Iran ‘compelling need’ but on nuclear sites likely ‘symbolic’: Ex-PM Barak

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has predicted that Israel will likely launch a large-scale airstrike against Iran’s oil industry and possibly target a military site related to its nuclear program.

This response comes after Iran’s assault with over 180 ballistic missiles on Tuesday, with most being intercepted, but some hitting populated areas and Israeli military bases.

Barak expressed certainty that Israel would retaliate militarily against Iran’s aggression. The predicted response would significantly impact Iran’s economy by targeting its oil industry, with the possibility of additional symbolic strikes against nuclear-related military targets.

“Israel has a compelling need, even an imperative, to respond. I think that no sovereign nation on Earth could fail to respond,” Barak said as reported by the Guardian.

President Joe Biden said Thursday he was discussing possible Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities, in comments that sent oil prices spiking Thursday just a month before the U.S. presidential election. Biden told reporters at the White House however that he was not expecting Israel to launch any retaliation for Tehran’s missile barrage on Israel before Thursday at least.

Meanwhile, Israel carried out a series of massive airstrikes overnight, hitting suburbs of Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria for tens of thousands of people fleeing Israeli bombardment.

The blasts in Beirut’s southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings kilometers (miles) away in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on what the intended target was, and there was no information immediately available on casualties. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area.

The Israeli military said Friday that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah’s communications division. The military said in a statement that Skafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.

Thursday’s strike along the Lebanon-Syria border, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beirut, led to the closure of the road near the busy Masnaa Border Crossing.

Israel said it had targeted the crossing because it was being used by Hezbollah to transport military equipment across the border. It said fighter jets had struck a tunnel used it to smuggle weapons from Iran and other proxies into Lebanon.

Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weaponry from Iran via Syria. The group has a presence on both sides of the border, a region where it has been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks there.

The new wave of strikes came after Israel warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon, including but also beyond an area that the United Nations declared a buffer zone after Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006.

Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon on Tuesday and its forces have been clashing with Hezbollah militants in a narrow strip along the border. A series of attacks before the incursion killed some of the group’s key members, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.