Iran’s attack has left Israel in a difficult position

In the space of two weeks Israel has been dealt two major strategic surprises. The first came in the aftermath of Israel’s air strike against Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus on April 1st. Intelligence indicated the Islamic Republic was about to abandon its decades-long strategy of confronting Israel through proxies and this time retaliate directly from its territory.The Iranian attack came on April 13th in the shape of hundreds of drones and missiles launched towards the Jewish state. With it came the second surprise. A coalition of Western and Arab nations deployed fighter jets in the skies over the Middle East and, along with Israel’s missile-defence systems, intercepted nearly all the incoming threats. Together they reduced the immediate impact of the attack to one wounded girl and some minor damage to an Israeli air base. But they also left Israeli decision-makers with a dilemma.