International appeal to avoid escalation of the conflict

By Paola Virrueta

This Thursday, international media, including the New York Post, reported on a response attack by Israel against Iran in the city of Isfahan, where the Iranian nuclear program is located at one of the air bases. This has raised global concern about a possible escalation in the Middle East, which could provoke a war in the region with lethal consequences.

As this attack was unfolding, I spoke with Gigi Harari, a Reserve Lieutenant Colonel in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), who worked for many years in the Military Intelligence Directorate. Specifically about this Israeli response to Iran, Lt. Harari told me that the intention seems to be to send a message to the Iranian leadership that Israel has the capability to attack Iran and has the technology, so a further attack by the Iranian regime is not desirable. It could have been a warning attack to somehow defuse tensions.

The international response was not long in coming, in a unanimous request to prevent these attacks from provoking a war that would leave behind the so-called clandestine or silent war between the two countries.