Did Iran Just Flinch? Despite Talk of a Direct Iranian Strike on Israel, Tehran Would Face Formidable Obstacles

Israeli airspace itself is protected from air strikes to a degree that might better explain Iran’s hesitancy in retaliating against Israel for the attack on its embassy at Damascus.

AP/Omar Sanadiki
Emergency services work at a destroyed building hit by an airstrike, at Damascus, Syria, April 1, 2024. AP/Omar Sanadiki

It would be a mistake to let those deep blue skies over Israel deceive — they are thoroughly if invisibly protected. That is something that the hardline Iranian regime knows and has to be weighing as it vows to avenge an airstrike in Syria on April 1 widely attributed to Israel. In that attack the Iranian consulate at Damascus was destroyed and a dozen people were killed, including two prominent Iranian generals. 

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