image source, Reuters
The attack launched by Iran last Saturday night with drones and missiles was the first of its kind against Israel by a country in the region since the missile strikes launched by Iraq during the Second Gulf War more than three decades ago.
How did the circumstances, motives, goals, and reactions differ in the two cases?
Background and objectives of the Iraqi strikes
On January 17, 1991, the “Second Gulf War” broke out, as international coalition forces led by the United States carried out an air and ground military operation against Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
On January 18, 1991, that is, only one day after the outbreak of the war, the then Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, proceeded to implement his threat to attack Israel if his country was attacked, as the Iraqi army launched about 40 Scud missiles towards Israel in An attempt that observers considered at the time to be aimed at dragging Israel into the conflict and causing a rift in the bloc of Arab and Islamic countries that condemned the invasion of Kuwait, a large number of which participated in the military coalition led by the United States.
The missile targets were stationed in Tel Aviv, Haifa Port, and the Negev Desert, where the Dimona nuclear reactor is located.
image source, Getty Images
Background and objectives of the Iranian strikes
The Iranian consulate in Damascus was subjected to an air strike at the beginning of this month, which resulted in the death of 13 people, including commanders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, led by the commander of the Quds Force, Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
Israel has not confirmed that it carried out the attack, but it is widely believed to be behind it.
Iran considered the air strike an explicit Israeli attack against it, and vowed to respond.
This response came on April 13, when ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones were launched at Israel. This was the first time that Iran directly attacked its regional rival, as the two countries have been waging what specialists call a “shadow war” for years, as each of them usually attacks targets belonging to the other country without admitting responsibility.
Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, said that the operation, which Iran called “The True Promise,” targeted an Israeli intelligence center north of the Golan and the Israeli Nevatim base, which is the main headquarters for F-35 aircraft in the Negev Desert in southern Israel. Israeli officials said that a few ballistic missiles caused minor damage to the Nevatim base, but the base “is still operating,” as Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari described it.
image source, Getty Images
Iraqi attacks: casualties and losses
In 2021, on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Iraqi missile attacks on Israel, the Israeli army allowed the publication of part of its archives, which revealed that the Iraqi missile attacks carried out between January 18 and February 25, 1991, resulted in 14 deaths and more than 200 injuries. They were directly infected, as well as treating more than 500 others from panic and panic, and more than 200 people who injected themselves with the anti-nerve agent atropine without having to do so.
Archival videos published by Israeli media indicate that buildings were damaged and some factories caught fire. They also show Israelis in tightly sealed rooms in their homes wearing gas masks, and sirens are heard throughout the country.
The rescue teams treated any Iraqi missiles as chemical, and so they wore protective clothing when they headed to the sites where these missiles fell.
image source, Getty Images
The Iranian operation: casualties and losses
The Iranian operation, which Tehran called “The True Promise,” seriously injured a 7-year-old girl from a Bedouin village in the Negev region, according to Israeli media. There were no reports of loss of life.
Israel said it was able to intercept 99 percent of Iranian missiles and drones. This was done with the help of Israel’s allies, led by the United States, where Reuters reported, citing American officials, that it shot down a number of Iranian drones, and the United Kingdom, whose Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that British Typhoon jets shot down a number of Iranian drones.
Jordan also said that it intercepted flying objects that entered its airspace to ensure the safety of its citizens, and the Israeli army said that France helped guard the airspace, but it was not clear whether it shot down any of the Iranian missiles or drones.
image source, Getty Images
The American and Israeli reaction to the Iraqi attacks
The United States exerted intense diplomatic pressure on Israel to discourage it from carrying out a direct attack against Iraq. Israel agreed not to respond, but in return it asked Washington to immediately deploy Patriot anti-ballistic missile defense systems from its European bases to assist the Patriot missile batteries that Israel already possessed.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica: “The effectiveness of Patriot batteries remains an open question, decades after the end of the war. The United States initially boasted that their performance was almost perfect, but the US military soon reduced their success rate in intercepting missiles to 40 per cent.” In fact, Israeli officials and the US Government Accountability Office questioned this modest estimate and stated that only less than 10 percent of Patriot batteries succeeded in intercepting and destroying Scud missiles.
The American and Israeli reaction to the Iranian attacks
US President Joe Biden renewed his country’s “firm” commitment to preserving Israel’s security, but a senior US administration official said that the United States will not participate in any retaliatory attacks launched by Israel against Iran. The official added that Biden urged Israel to be cautious in its response, but he refused to answer the question of whether the White House had warned Israel against launching an expanded attack against Iran, saying only that it was “a matter that depends on Israeli calculations.”
Jeremy Bowen, international affairs editor at the BBC, says that the Americans want restraint from Israel, and that Biden sent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a clear message saying: “The Iranian attack has been thwarted, and Israel has won, so do not escalate the matter any further by Responding with military strikes on Iranian territory.”
As for Israel, it announced that it will respond to the Iranian attack “in the way it chooses and at the time it chooses.”
It is feared that any expanded response by the Israeli government, which is usually described as the most stringent in the country’s history, will lead to an increase in the tension that the Middle East has witnessed since the October 7 attacks launched by the Palestinian Hamas movement on Israel and the subsequent attacks. A devastating war that Israel says aims to eliminate the movement.
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