Iran intended to kill large numbers of people with the unprecedented attack that it launched against Israel over the weekend, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment.
Reuters reported that the Biden administration communicated to Iran, through the Turkish government, that it’s attack on Israel had to be “within certain limits”.
Senior U.S. officials told Semafor that that the attack — which included hundreds of one-way suicide drones and missiles — was “designed to cause mass casualties and infrastructure damage,” the report said.
Israeli officials said that Iran crossed a major red line with its attack, the first time the Islamic Republic has ever directly attacked Israel, and would pay a steep price for the terror inflicted against the Jewish state.
They said that despite Iran’s claims that it was only targeting military infrastructure, Iran also targeted “major civilian areas” and that a direct military response would be required.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett slammed President Joe Biden on Sunday for telling Israel that it got a “win” and that they should take the win. The “win,” according to the Biden administration, was the fact that 99% of the projectiles were shot down by Israel and its allies in the region.
“No, it’s NOT a victory,” Bennett wrote. “When a bully tries to hit you 350 times and only succeeds seven time, you’ve NOT won. You don’t win wars just by intercepting your enemy’s hits, nor do you deter it. Your enemy will just try harder with more and better weapons and methods next time.”
He said that the only way to deter further aggression was by “exacting a deeply painful price.”
Bennett said that the attack was a “big mistake” by Iran — which he referred to as “a terror-octopus whose head is Tehran, and its tentacles are in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza.”
“Israel’s strategic mistake for the past 30 years was to play along this strategy,” he said. “We always fought the Octopus’ arms, but hardly exacted a price from its Iranian head.”