The is “closer than ever before” to an all-out war after Iran’s on Israel, experts have said. Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday night, less than 24 hours after Israel started a ground , where it is currently engaged in intense fighting with Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces. Videos showed missiles streaking across the sky and blowing up as Iron Dome defence system was deployed, preventing the vast majority of Iranian missiles from landing.
It comes after weeks of escalation, with a heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut leading to , according to the Lebanese health ministry. The strikes have also killed a number of Hezbollah commanders. With Israel expected to retaliate to the Iranian missiles – while its invasions of both Lebanon and Gaza both continue – tensions are only set to increase.
Professor Yossi Mekkelberg, an Associate Fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, told “We’re closer than ever before. There is no doubt about that. We haven’t seen something like this before.
“Israel promised - and there’s no reason to doubt - that it’s going to retaliate in a fashion which is way more severe than back in April when it was very targeted. He added: “In a way its lucky that there are not many casualties yesterday. But obviously the scale of the retaliation is conditioned on the damage.
“So retaliation will come, but the question is what will the Iranians do? We are close [to all out war].
