Population of Iran and Israel fear that a major war is coming

Tehran. Iranians oscillated this Sunday between fear of an escalation and pride in their country’s military capabilities, after the attack launched on Saturday by the Islamic Republic against Israel.

The attack with drones and missiles targeted two military centers that were used to launch a bombardment against the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1.

The Islamic Republic accused Israel of the attack, in which seven Revolutionary Guards were killed, two of them generals of the Quds Force, its foreign operations arm.

In Tehran, some Iranians expressed pride and joy over the first attack launched by Iran from its territory against Israel and others feared an unstoppable escalation of war between the two countries that polarize tensions in the region.

Milad, a professor who preferred not to give his last name, hopes that “the conflict does not continue,” because it would provoke, according to him, “a destructive war” for both Israel and Iran.

“We have not yet completely rebuilt the ruins of the Iran-Iraq war [1980-1988] in the southwest of the country,” emphasizes the 46-year-old man. “War is not a joke,” he adds.

Iranian authorities, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had repeatedly threatened to respond to the bombing of their consulate in the Syrian capital.

Jafari, an employee of the judicial system who also did not want to give his last name, considers it “normal” to be concerned about the current situation, “especially from an economic point of view,” and cites the fear of a depreciation of the Iranian rial.

“We feel better”

Hundreds of people gathered in Tehran’s Palestine Square, in the center of the capital, shortly after the Revolutionary Guard announced the start of Operation “Honest Promise” against Israel.

Residents celebrated the Iranian attacks by chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to the United States,” two slogans widely present in the country since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Protesters waved flags of Iran and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement, as well as portraits of General Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, who was killed in January 2020 in a US bombing in Iraq.

Several Iranian military leaders have been killed in Syria since the start of the war in early October between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the war zone, in attacks attributed to Israel.

The attack that destroyed the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1 killed among others Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, two commanders of the Quds Force, the arm of the Revolutionary Guards that focuses on Iran’s foreign operations. .

“We feel extremely happy about this action by the Guardians and, in fact, we feel better” today, said Ali Erfanian, a 65-year-old retired civil servant.

“We have thus helped the oppressed population of Gaza and the occupied West Bank” after six months of war in the narrow and besieged Palestinian territory, he added.

“There was sadness and anger in our hearts, and we always hoped for this revenge and for the Israelis to be punished for their brutality,” said Mahdi, a 35-year-old beekeeper.

Israelis are concerned about the Iranian attack and fear an escalation

Iran’s first direct attack on Israel shocked Israelis and made them fear that a larger war was looming.

While the population has long been accustomed to sirens warning of attacks by Iran-backed Hamas, the hundreds of drones and missiles launched from Iran on Saturday night represented a new element in the overlapping conflicts of Middle East.

Israel reported moderate damage on Sunday after the military said it had shot down almost all of the more than 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran.

However, the attack shocked the Israelis, whose army fought the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza for years but never went into direct war with the regional power. At night weapons and interceptors could be seen flashing in the sky.

“I think it was pretty scary when in the middle of the night we started hearing booms and we didn’t know what it was, I mean, we knew what it was, we didn’t know how far it would go,” said Jerusalem resident Cecile Smulowitz.

“But thank God the Israeli army arrived, and so far everything is calm and we hope it stays that way.” Iran mounted its attack in retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike on Tehran’s embassy in Damascus on April 1, which killed 13 people, including two Iranian generals. Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack, but it is widely believed that it was the author.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who repeated to the world that Iran is an existential threat to the Jewish state, promised that Israel would achieve victory.

The threat of open war breaking out between Iran and Israel and the United States being drawn into the conflict put the region on edge.

Some Israelis said they did not want an escalation, but with the stakes so high they are nervous, despite having the most powerful and technologically advanced army in the region.

“I really hope there isn’t a big war, none of us in Israel want a big war so I hope that’s it, and I hope Iran stops now,” said Jeremy Smith, 60, a resident of Tzur Hadassah.

“I imagine Israel will respond because, I mean, our entire country was covered in missiles and drones. What can you do? But we have to stop it somehow.”

Before the Iranian attack, Israeli authorities had ordered the population not to hold large gatherings, the closure of all schools and children’s camping sites during the Jewish holiday of Passover, and the closure of some beach and tourism sites.

“We didn’t want war with Hamas, they attacked us. We don’t want war with Iran, they attack us,” said Amy Friedlang Morgans, a 71-year-old Jerusalem resident.