Amos Yadlin
Amos YadlinFlash 90

The head of the Institute for National Security Studies, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, spoke this morning on his personal Twitter account about the Iranian attack in northern Israel, and the subsequent Israeli response.

"The two strategic Iranian threats against Israel are military nuclear [capabilities] in the long run and the threat of precision missiles from Syria and Lebanon in the medium run," Yadlin explained.

He said that "the incident tonight is from another field - the Iranian response to Israeli attacks, as they saw in February and April. After attempts to launch rockets or missiles into Israel were thwarted on previous nights, the Iranians succeeded in launching a military operation against Israel."

"In their attempt to combine retaliation, deterrence and prevention of escalation, they failed miserably," Yadlin said. "Tonight it has been proven that Israel has impressive intelligence and military superiority, as well as a missile defense system among the best in the world, and it is also ready to land a painful response on a wide range of Iranian targets in Syria."

However, Yadlin, who once served as the head of Military Intelligence, stressed that "the attack tonight, as successful as it was and as much as it thwarted the Iranian threat in the immediate term, does not solve the issue of the precision missile challenge from Syria and Lebanon and the Iranian push in the nuclear realm.”

"The achievements in the confrontation with Iran tonight must not mislead us. We are faced with a double challenge vis-a-vis Iran's strengthening foothold in Syria and its nuclear program, challenges among the most significant we have faced in recent decades. Even with American support and a green light from a sympathetic president, the brunt of the battle will fall on the State of Israel,” he added.