Wow, simply wow, look at the iron dome at work.

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To all the boys and girls on operations tonight, good hunting, and come home safely.

As said stay safe… as for Iran’s message, it will fall like chaf scattered to the wind

Stay safe is not end up.on the ground.

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Latest report is that attack numbered 300 drones and cruise missiles.

99% successfully intercepted, no Israeli casualties except one 10 year old girl wounded by falling shrapnel - unknown if from a target or defensive missile.

No indication as too targets and effect of the unintercepted targets.

RAF Involved
 

RAF fighter jets deployed to shoot down Iran drones, MoD says https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68810774

Not sure why the RAF need to get dragged into it. Especially when Israel have not even had the decency to admit that they bombed the Iranian Consulate.

BV

Crazy footage from tonight showing what appears to be an exo-atmospheric interception, an interception which occurs outside the Earth’s atmosphere, of an Iranian ballistic missile over Israel.

The intercept was likely conducted by an Israeli “Arrow 3” hypersonic Surface-to-Air Missile system or a U.S. navy ship off the coast utilizing an SM-3.

I'll go with it but looks more like lens flare.

According to the IDF it was 150 drones, 120 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles.

Perhaps the UK working to prevent the major escalation that would likely follow a successful Iranian strike on Israel?

Fortissimo
 

Maybe when you consider that the IDF has considerably more combat ready fighters than the RAF and it’s in their own backyard they should take care of what they started themselves. And escalation is what happens when other nations get involved.

BV

Thanks Nutty. She's back at her parent's flat now so we're waiting for the dust to settle so that we can rebook her return flight. All seems calm in nothern Tehran with the sabre rattling being done on the TV. None of the extended family are fans of the Mullahs and would love to see them overthrown.

Most likely providing some `eyes` to Israel so they are forewarned about anything incoming and ready to mop up anything unusual that slips through the net.

The impression I get is that Iran signallled exactly what it was going to do, allowing Israel, the US, UK and interestingly Jordan to have assets on hand to counter the attack; something that Iran anticipated, even expected if not 'welcomed'. In itheir tortured logic the Mullahs felt they had no option but to retaliate but did so in a fashion which had lots of bark but as they knew if not ensured had minimal bite. I would not be surprised if they even passed the targeting coordinates to the US;...

I would hope so - I suppose it needs a judgement about what the intention was of the Iranian attack. Was it a genuine assault or a spectacular way of saving face?

it's currently 1-0 Israel, what would retaliating against their retaliation achieve?

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.

My post said they operated over Jordan, so maybe they were requested by Jordan to help them. So appears to be separate from Israel.