'Terror-Octopus Whose Head Is Tehran': Middle East On Edge As Israel Vows Response Against Iranian Missile Barrage

The Israeli war cabinet led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Sunday after Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones to retaliate against the Israeli strike earlier this month on the Iranian consulate in Syrian capital Damascus.

The war cabinet has not yet decided when the retaliatory attack will be conducted but said there will be retaliation, according to an official cited by the Times of Israel.

“It is clear that Israel will respond. The IDF will need to present options,” an official in the Israeli prime minister’s office was quoted as saying by US broadcaster NBC.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday cautioned Israel against a “reckless” retaliation, warning this would spark “a decisive and much stronger response”.

A separate report by news agency Reuters said that the Israeli war cabinet is in favour of a retaliation against Iran, but remains divided over the timing and scale of any such response.

A senior US official told news agency AFP President Joe Biden had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington would not offer military support for any retaliation on Iran.

“We would not be a part of any response they do. We would not envision ourselves participating in such an act,” an Israeli official was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

A separate report by Axios said that Biden told Netanyahu he should “take the win”, and that Washington would oppose an Israeli counterattack as he reaffirmed the United States’ “ironclad” support for Israel.

As the US President appeared to guide Israel away from a military response against the two countries’ common adversary, Iran, former Israeli PM and member of war cabinet Naftali Bennett said Israel made a mistake by not tackling the “terror-octopus whose head is Tehran”, referring to Tehran’s backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Yemeni Houthis and Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

Bennett also countered Biden’s ‘take the win’ comment and said Israel may have fended off the attack but it is not a victory.

“The US administration is telling us: “This is a victory, you’ve already won by thwarting the missiles. No need for any further action.” No, it’s NOT a victory. Yes, it’s a remarkable success of Israel’s air defence systems, but it’s not a victory,” Bennett wrote in a lengthy social media post on X.

“It’s incorrect to say “nobody got hurt”. There’s a 7 year-old Israeli-Arab girl called Amina Elhasuny fighting for her life. That’s who coward Khamenei hit,” he further added.

Amina Hassouna, a seven-year-old Israeli Bedouin, was the only badly injured person recorded in Israel in this unprecedented attack by Tehran. She is currently receiving treatment at an intensive care unit in the Soroka hospital in the city of Beersheba.

In his post, he lamented that Israel for ‘30 years’ followed a wrong strategy where it did not strike the ‘terror-octopus’, referring to Iran’s support for its proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas.

“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. We always fought the Octopus’ arms, but hardly exacted a price from its Iranian head. This should change now: Hezbollah or Hamas shoots a rocket at Israel? Tehran pays a price,” Bennett said.

Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones to retaliate against the Israeli strike earlier this month on the Iranian consulate in Syrian capital Damascus, killing seven Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), two high-ranking generals among them.

US, G7 Slam Iran

The US backed Israel whereas other global and western powers urged restraint as Iran carried out unprecedented missile and drone strikes on Israel on Saturday, fearing it could spark a wider war in the West Asian region.

US President Joe Biden convened a meeting of G7 leaders which was attended by UK PM Rishi Sunak, Japan PM Fumio Kishida, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Today, I convened my fellow G7 leaders to discuss Iran’s unprecedented attack against Israel. We will continue to work together to stabilise the situation in the region and avoid further escalation,” Biden said in a tweet.

The G7 leaders also released a statement condemning the attacks and urged Iran to cease its attacks. “We demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilising initiatives. With its actions, Iran has further stepped toward the destabilisation of the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation. This must be avoided,” they said, in the statement published by the Italian G7 presidency.

His administration also reached out to regional powers to stop further escalation. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, thanking the latter for his efforts to prevent further escalation.

The US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he spoke to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Sunday on three separate occasions and said necessary steps will be taken to defend Israeli and Iranian personnel.

“I spoke to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant today for a third time this weekend to review the successful combined operation by the United States, Israel, and their partners to defend Israel from unprecedented attacks launched from Iranian territory and by Iran’s proxies. While the United States does not seek escalation, we will continue to take all necessary action to defend Israel and US personnel,” Austin said.

Even though American assistance for both Israel and Ukraine has languished amid political bickering in Congress, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he aims to advance war-time aid to Israel this week following Iran’s weekend attack.