Originally Posted by
m0nkfish
I'm very much inclined to agree with you Bob. The situation in the ME is getting worse and the UK should be focussing on deescalating both in terms of what we do and what we say.
I will contend that it is possible that the UK and US were concerned at the scale of the Iranian drone attack, and the possibility it might overwhelm the Iron Dome system. In which case, assisting in repelling the attack would have helped prevent a successful and potentially high casualty strike on Israel that would have itself warranted a further escalatory response from Israel.
Only time will tell, the next few days will be interesting to watch. Hopefully Iran will feel like its strike has sent the desired message and Isreal will not escalate things further. But whatever happens, the fact we have started shooting does mean we have raised the bar, and we need to be so careful that we don't tip toe into continued direct involvement.
Israel didn't 'start this themselves', unless you mean by just existing (directed at BV's comment, which I can't now find). Whatever Israel does, Iran will continue to attack via its Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi proxies, so either way it's certainly not over.