[HIGHLIGHTS] “Miscalculation”: Israel apparently did not expect a major attack from Iran

Israel is said to have been surprised by Iran's major attack. According to US government sources, the Israelis "severely miscalculated." According to the report, Israel had planned the airstrike on the Iranian embassy two months in advance.

Around a week before the attack, the Israeli War Cabinet approved the operation on March 22nd. The target was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the Iranian Qods Force for Syria and Lebanon. He was killed, as were six other Iranian officers, in the attack. Israel has not officially claimed responsibility, for which it has not claimed responsibility. The escalation in the Middle East was avoidable. The Israelis admitted that they had completely misjudged the consequences of the attack in Damascus. And even after it became clear that Iran would retaliate, Israel and the US still expected that the scale of the response would be quite limited. They probably had to revise this assessment several times in the days before the Iranian attack. The attack was carried out late Saturday evening (April 13). The US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke in advance with high-ranking Israeli cabinet members. He assured them of US help but also asked them not to launch a hasty counterattack. After the Iranian missile launches became known, leading Israeli politicians spoke out in favor of an immediate retaliatory strike. However, due to the limited damage - Israel and its allies were able to intercept around 99 percent of the missiles - the war cabinet postponed the decision. How and when Israel will react remains unclear. According to US broadcaster ABC, the US government does not expect a counterattack on Iran before the end of the month. Passover begins on Monday (April 22) and ends after dark on April 30. Iran's Revolutionary Guard and other leaders are on high alert, the government official said. Some stayed in safe places or underground shelters. The USA and the EU have called on Israel and Iran to refrain from further attacks on each other. There is great concern that the conflict could spread further if Israel counterattacks harshly.