Israeli strike on Iran highlights ability to evade Tehran's air defenses

Retaliatory attack damaged defense system near Natanz, a city in central Iran that is key to the nuclear weapons program of the country.

An Israeli airstrike on Iran on Friday damaged an air defense system, Western and Iranian officials said, in an attack designed to send the message that Israel could bypass Iranian defensive systems undetected and cripple them.

The strike damaged a defensive battery near Natanz, a town in central Iran which is essential to the country's nuclear weapons program, according to two Western and two Iranian officials. The attack – and Saturday's revelation of its target – was a retaliation for the Iranian strike in Israel last week, after Israel bombed its embassy compound in Damascus. But it used only a fraction of the firepower deployed by Tehran to launch hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel.

Friday's strike was the latest salvo in a series of reprisals. Tat attacks between the two countries this month have increased fears of a wider regional conflict. But the relatively limited scope of the Israeli strike and the discreet response of Iranian officials appear to have eased tensions.

Iran and Israel fought a shadow war that lasted years, but the conflict has intensified. on April 1, when Israeli military jets killed seven Iranian officials, including three senior commanders, at an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that Israel said was being used as a military site. Iran responded last week by firing a barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel, almost all of which were shot down by Israel and its allies. But these strikes nonetheless shook Israelis.

This attack was Iran's first-ever direct attack on Israeli soil, reinforcing the countries' clandestine war - waged ever since long time by land, air and sea. and cyberspace – for all to see. The Israeli government has vowed to respond, even as world leaders and their Western allies, including the United States, have rushed to defuse the situation, urging Israel not to react in a way that could lead to to a regional war.

ImageA demonstration against Israel after Friday prayers in Tehran. Credit... Arash Khamooshi for the New York Times

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