How Washington helped Israel counter the Iranian attack
The US Army’s Central Command (Centcom) provided some details on Sunday on the assistance provided to Israel to counter the unprecedented attack carried out by Iran and its allies the previous night.
The United States, with the support of European destroyers, destroyed “more than eighty” drones and “at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen”, Centcom said. A hundred medium-range ballistic missiles, more than thirty cruise missiles and at least one hundred and fifty attack drones targeted Israel from Iran, according to an American military official. The Israeli army, for its part, recorded more than 350 projectiles and claimed that 99% of them were destroyed.
Two American ships present in the region,‘Arleigh-Burke and the Carney, destroyed half a dozen missiles before planes took action, in turn destroying more than seventy Iranian drones. A Patriot missile battery shot down another cruise missile not far from the Iraqi city of Erbil, in Kurdistan.
American forces also annihilated “a ballistic missile on its launch vehicle and seven drones destroyed on the ground before their launch in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis”according to Centcom.
US President Joe Biden spent Saturday evening following events live in the famous “situation room”, the White House situation room. “We estimate that over a hundred missiles were on approach at the same time, at any given time. The results of the defensive measures were of course unclear until it was all over”said an official present on site, to describe the atmosphere of tension.
The Iranian attack is intended to be a response to the strike attributed to Israel against the Tehran consulate in Damascus on 1er April, in which seven members of the Revolutionary Guards, including two generals, died. Iran immediately affirmed that the strike would not go unanswered. “We did not participate in this strike, but we knew it would have consequences”said a US administration official.
In the following days, President Biden called on the government to “defend Israel as much as possible” and to ensure that the means allowing this were deployed, according to a directive from Washington.
Before the Iranian attack, US officials remained “in constant contact” with Israel as well as with other countries in the region. The United States was also in contact with Iran, via “a series of direct communications relayed by Switzerland”, added an American official. Additional troops have been deployed to the region “to strengthen regional deterrence and the protection of American forces”according to the Department of Defense.
Since the start of the conflict in Gaza, following the Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, the United States’ objective has been to avoid contagion in the region, and Washington has sought at all costs to reduce tensions. “We will not participate in any potential action on their part”insisted an American official, questioned about Israel’s possible responses to this weekend’s attacks, “we don’t see ourselves getting involved in it”.
Israel has on its side “been clear with us that they do not want an escalation with Iran”, continued this official. But, according to him, “The big question is not only whether Israel will act, but also what it will choose to do”.