Iran said it launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel on Saturday in a major attack following days of acute tension building up in the region and warnings from the US and elsewhere about a wider conflict erupting.
Air attack warning sirens began wailing over Jerusalem just before 2am local time on Sunday after the weapons were fired a few hours earlier from Iran with US and Jordanian military assisting Israel’s air defenses in intercepting the first incoming barrage.
With weapons believed to be still in the air en route to Israel, Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted on X: “Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded.”
However, it threatened more severe action in the face of further Israeli aggression and warned the US and Jordan specifically not to assist Israel.
Edit: here are links to the NYT and BBC live feeds.
Edit 2: updated summary and archive to reflect article changes.
This is not accurate. There are multiple nearby allied/NATO countries in the area as well as carrier groups in the Med that more than cover what Israel offers us.
Israel does not offer us a unique strategic advantage in any scenario. They only increase tensions with our existing trade partners in the region and threaten to bring us into wars that they start. They are very much using us, and have been for decades. We allow/justify it because of religious and traditional reasons. Nothing more.
Biden is backing Israel because some of the U.S.'s biggest political donors (AIPAC) will shift their support back to the Republicans in the upcoming election if he doesn’t. Mark my words: Biden will back off Israel support the instant it becomes too late for certain donors to negatively affect the upcoming election.