14 April 2024 by Larry Johnson
The United States and its pack of poodles in the rest of the G-7 spent the day down playing Iran’s military strike on Israel as a nothing burger. That is not true. This attack was significant on both a tactical and strategic level and is a defiant warning to both Israel and the United States to keep their powder dry or run the risk of Iran launching a massive strike on Israel that it will not be able to defeat.
Iran made shrewd use of a limited swarm of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles — all timed to arrive at roughly the same time — which overwhelmed Israel and other air defense systems activated to try to thwart the Iranian attack. Reports indicate that Iran hit the following targets in Israel:
➖Nevatim Airbase in the south of occupied Palestine
➖Ramon Airbase in the south of occupied Palestine
➖The Israeli top-secret intelligence-spy base in Jabal al-Sheikh (Mount Hermon) in the north of the occupied Golan
➖ Israeli Air Force intelligence HQ in Tel Aviv
I believe that Iran pulled its punches in this attack. In other words, it did not launch a full scale attack designed to destroy essential Israeli military capabilities. Its purpose was to put Israel and its Western backers on notice that further attacks by Israel will be reciprocated with an even more massive response. And here is the bottomline — Israel does not have the supplies of Iron Dome missiles and other air defense armaments to conduct a sustained campaign against a coordinated attack of more than 1000 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
Israel also faces a math geography problem. Iran is 30 times the size of Israel in terms of square miles (or kilometers). In addition, many of Iran’s key military and nuclear sites are buried deep underground in the midst of mountains. If Israel dares to engage Iran in a tit-for-tat or attack and counter attack it will come out on the short end of the stick. Barring the use of nuclear weapons, Israel does not have the military clout to put a dent in Iran’s military and industrial capability. Iran, however, does not face such constraints.
Johnson, YouTube, 15-minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67SoXatU9MQ&t=19s