by Jonathan Spyer
The Spectator
The reported Israeli strike on an Iranian air installation near the city of Isfahan in central Iran appears to have been the most significant of a series of attacks carried out by Israel in the course of last night. While the full picture is still emerging, there are indications that an additional strike of some kind took place south of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. A third strike took place on a position of the Syrian army in Sweida, a majority Druze province close to the Syria-Israel border, according to a number of Syrian opposition sources.
The strike on Sweida is business as usual in terms of Israel’s ongoing campaign against Iranian entrenchment in Syria. The Isfahan strike, however, and to a lesser extent the apparent strike on Baghdad constitute a significant escalation. Attacks on Iranian regime facilities on Iranian soil have been attributed to Israel in the past. Operations against drone production facilities in the Isfahan area took place in May 2021 and January 2023. An additional strike on a drone factory in the Kermanshah area was carried out in February 2022.