Squiz Shortcuts - Iran and Israel

Your Shortcut to Iran and Israel

Last weekend, Iran attacked Israel directly for the first time when it launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israeli targets. While almost all of the attacks were blocked, analysts fear this moment could spiral into a broader regional conflict. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we look at:

• The relationship between Iran and Israel, 

• What led to this unprecedented attack, and 

• What might come next

Prefer this in your ears?

Listen to our podcast 🎧

Listen time: 13 minutes

Squiz the Shortcut

Hasn’t it been a big news week…
You can say that again. With all the domestic news here in Australia you’d be totally forgiven if you haven’t kept on top of this complicated but also extremely consequential story in the Middle East – but hey, that’s what we’re here for.

So, what do we need to know?
Let’s begin by explaining exactly what happened over the weekend. Working with local Israel time, it was about 10pm on Saturday night when Israelis got the warning that Iran had launched an attack. We know now that there were around 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles launched from Iranian soil, and those drones and missiles started to approach Israel at around 2am.

What happened next?
Locals in Israel started to hear booms in the sky and were told to seek shelter. But then, when they emerged, they heard the news that Israel’s defence systems had been extraordinarily effective. Around 99% of the attacks were stopped.

That seems pretty good, right?
It was a major success for Israel, and the only serious injuries were to a 7yo girl who lived in southern Israel. That success means that Israel now has a choice in how to respond – but we’ll get to that at the end of this newsletter.

Before that, let’s hear more about the relationship between Iran and Israel before this attack…
Good idea, and we’ll start with a quick history lesson. Israel was only founded in 1948, after World War II, as a homeland for the Jewish people. They immediately faced threats from a lot of their Arab and Muslim neighbours – but, funnily enough, Iran was initially open to diplomatic relations with Israel. That changed dramatically in 1979 when Iran underwent an internal revolution that saw a theocratic Islamist government seize power. Under the new Iranian leadership, Iran viewed Israel as an illegitimate state and wanted it wiped off the map.

Yikes, and how does Israel view Iran?
Iran has nuclear weapons, and so Israel views them as an existential threat. For decades now, the two countries have been in a kind of shadow war, each trying to undercut the other and limit their military capacity. That’s how things stood, up until October 7…

The day Hamas attacked Israel?
Exactly. To refresh, Hamas militants stormed Israel from Gaza and killed around 1,200 Israelis. In the immediate aftermath of that day Israel blamed Iran for supporting Hamas and providing them with weapons – although we should note that we haven’t yet seen proof of Iran’s involvement in October 7. But Iran has been making other moves…

What else is Iran doing?
To understand, you need to know that Iran has various ‘proxy’ groups around the region – that is, extremist militia groups that Iran funds and supports, all of whom have it out for Israel. For example, we did a Shortcut last year on Hezbollah, an Islamist group based out of Lebanon who are constantly firing rockets at Israel. 

Hezbollah are backed by Iran?
They sure are, and so are the Houthi rebels that we’ve heard about recently, because they’ve been interrupting shipping routes around Israel. But Israel has been fighting back…

What has Israel been doing?
Their army has made targeted strikes against these groups, killing Hamas and Hezbollah leaders with precision bombs, even if those leaders were in other countries like Lebanon or Syria. But then, Israel made a new move…

What did Israel do that was new?
On April 1, just a few weeks ago, Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria’s capital. This was a big deal because an embassy is considered to be the territory of its country – and on top of that, the attack also killed some of the top commanders of Iran’s military.

Sounds like a big deal…
It was, and that’s why Iran responded with its barrage of 300 missiles and drones. Experts say that Iran’s attack was a direct retaliation to Israel’s bombing of the embassy.

What happens now?
All eyes are now on Israel and how they respond to Iran’s attack. Israel’s allies have been urging them to take the temperature down – for example, U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly told Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu to “take the win”. In other words, to not escalate the conflict…

What’s Israel saying it will do?
Israel has indicated that it’s going to retaliate against Iran in some way, so we’re all just waiting to see what that response is. But the fear is that Israel’s response could continue a cycle that leads the region into all-out war…

More war?
It sounds dramatic, but it’s a strong possibility. Whatever happens, though, this moment is going to shape the Middle East for years to come.

Onto our recommendations

Listening: An episode of The Washington Post’s daily podcast, featuring their Jerusalem bureau chief, who talks about sheltering from the bombs as they came in.

Reading: The Guardian also has a visual guide to Iran’s attack. If you want to see video of missiles over Jerusalem being intercepted, it’s quite something.

Recent Shortcuts