Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – An EU spokesperson issued a statement on Israeli air strikes against Iran during the evening between Saturday and Sunday.
In what the assertion calls a “retaliatory attack”, following the Iranian attack on Israel on 1 October with 180 ballistic missiles, the spokesperson recognised Israel’s right to self-defence.
“The dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliations risks causing a further expansion of the regional conflict,”
the EU expressed in a statement.
“While acknowledging Israel’s right to self-defence, the EU calls on all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an uncontrollable escalation, which is in no one’s interest.”
What impact did the strikes have on Iran’s military?
The Israeli airstrikes engaged up to 100 planes and targeted military facilities deep in Iran such as air defence batteries and areas for manufacturing and launching ballistic missiles. Iranian media said that four soldiers were killed in the strikes and devalued the damage caused by the strikes but it is still unsure if Iran will respond.
To decrease the risk of a full-scale war, and following American coercion before the presidential elections, the air strikes did not hit any oil installations and nuclear programme areas. Iran had intimidated that it might attack oil installations in the Gulf states and interrupt the flow of oil exports through the strategic Strait of Hormuz which connects producers in the Middle East with key markets across the world.
A previous Iranian aggression on Israel on the night of 14 April, with more than 300 rockets and drones, was a retaliation for the bombing of an Iranian building in Damascus which had claimed the lives of seven Iranian soldiers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Iranian attack was intercepted and started a minor Israeli reaction against an air defence battery.
The purpose of the Israeli air strikes this time was to transmit a strong signal to Iran to abstain from attacking Israel directly and through its proxies in the region. The collapse of Iran’s air defence leaves it vulnerable if there would be a fresh round of reprisal attacks. Iran would then risk that its important petrochemical industry would be hit.
