World
Israel continues to weigh options, timing on Iran strike following Biden-Netanyahu call
Details of the phone call between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, in which Jerusalem’s pending response to Iran’s attack last week was discussed, remain limited.
A readout of the call noted Biden’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” adding that Biden “condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st.”
Prior to the readout, when asked about the details of the discussion, Vice President Kamala Harris – who sat in on the call – said she could not discuss “private diplomatic conversations,” telling CNN it was “an important call.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was also short on any details, saying that the pair “continued their discussion on a response to Iran’s attack” and that it was a “straightforward, honest conversation.”
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Following the attack by Tehran, in which the U.S. helped defend Israel against the more than 180 missiles fired at it, Netanyahu vowed to make Iran “pay,” prompting immediate speculation over what the counterattack would look like.
No casualties were reported in Israel, though one Palestinian was killed in the West Bank, and Biden has urged Netanyahu to issue nothing more than a “proportionate” counterstrike.
However, speculation has mounted over the type of attack Israel could hit Iran with, and security analysts have begun reviewing strike options that range from hitting military sites, infrastructure important to the Iranian regime like oil refineries and ports, to even an attack on Iran’s expanding nuclear program.
According to an assessment by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Iran has more than a dozen nuclear installations across the country, including uranium mines, fuel enrichment plants, a reactor and heavy water production plant, as well as several weaponization facilities – all of which could be in Israel’s crosshairs.
However, the U.S. has warned the Israeli prime minister against attacking Iranian nuclear or oil facilities over concerns it could prompt a regional war.
Following Iran’s attack in April, during which it levied some 300 missiles and drones at Israel, Jerusalem responded to Western calls for restraint by hitting Iran’s air defenses and destroying part of an S-300 long-range air defense system.
However, the precision strike, seemingly muted compared to the missile launch levied by Iran, likely sent a loud message to Tehran after Israel successfully hit one of Iran’s most coveted defense systems, strategically placed in between its nuclear sites.
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The S-300 system was permanently deployed at the Isfahan Air Base, just 60 miles south of the Natanz enrichment plant and less than 10 miles north of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, two sites supposedly at the core of Iran’s nuclear program, according a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
However, even given the significance of the previous hit, one expert suspects Jerusalem’s response this time will be more “public,” even as Israel continues to butt heads with its biggest ally, the U.S.
“It is unknown what target, or in what order, or with what exact political verse military goal in mind, Israel may choose to strike back at the Islamic Republic,” expert on Iran-Israel security matters and senior fellow with the FDD, Behnam Ben Taleblu, told Fox News Digital.
“What seems certain, however, is that Israel is intent on returning fire and likely in a larger and more public fashion than it did in April,” he said, adding it remains likely that Israel again goes after Iran’s air and missile defense capabilities.
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Tension between the U.S. and Israel has been brewing for months over mounting concerns about the number of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip, and reports suggested last month the U.S. was kept in the dark over Israel’s alleged pager operation against Hezbollah in late September in which some three dozen terrorists were killed and 3,000 others were injured.
Additionally, Washington fervently warned Israel against any ground incursion into Lebanon, though Jerusalem ignored the international calls to ease fighting and argued its operations against Hezbollah were required to ensure the safe return of 60,000 citizens forced to evacuate from their homes near the border.
Despite U.S. objections over the ground incursion in Lebanon, the U.S. reinforced its troops in the region to better defend Israel ahead of the Iranian attack.
Questions over how the U.S. will support or respond to an Israeli attack on Iran remains as unclear as the type of retaliatory strike Jerusalem will throw at Iran.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday issued an ominous warning to Iran and said, “Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all – surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened.”
Ben Taleblu said Israel’s forthcoming decision on what it decides to strike will “tell analysts a great deal if Israel envisions this to be an operation verses a campaign,” as well as serve as an indicator as to how involved the Biden administration was in the counterattack.
“Israeli military planners, in my estimation, are likely to be exploring options that enable them to do as much damage while keeping the U.S. on board,” he said. “But Israel’s ability to signal the vulnerability of Tehran’s nuclear weapons enterprise through other and more creative means ought not to be minimized.”
World
AP PHOTOS: Powerful Hurricane Milton destroys homes, shreds stadium roofs apart
Many Florida residents were returning to their homes Thursday after Hurricane Milton pummelled the state, the second major hurricane in two weeks.
Millions of people in several counties had been ordered to evacuate earlier this week as Milton approached.
In Palmetto, southwest of Tampa, resident Natasha Ducre and her family of seven returned from a government shelter to find their home demolished and unlivable — furniture and other belongings destroyed by heavy rainwater. The roof in her kitchen had collapsed, with debris now carpeting the floor. Their home destroyed, siblings Saboria, 4, and Messiah Tyler, 3, had nowhere to sleep but the backseat of a car.
Farther north in St. Petersburg, powerful winds and rain shredded the roof of the Tropicana Field Stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball, where several stadium workers were taking shelter. The team said it may take weeks to fully assess how much damage was done.
Milton slammed into Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, killing at least 5 people, spawning tornadoes and leaving more than 3 million homes and businesses without power. The state’s central Gulf Coast was hardest hit by the outages, including Hardee, Sarasota, Hillsborough and Manatee counties.
The storm came after Hurricane Helene ravaged several southeastern states as a Category 4 storm, killing more than 220 people.
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World
3 million lose power as hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida
Hurricane Milton is barreling into the Atlantic Ocean after ploughing across Florida.
Milton caused at least five deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, while sparing the city of Tampa a direct hit.
The storm weakened in the final hours, making landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 storm in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (113km) south of Tampa.
The storm knocked out power to more than three million customers and whipped up a barrage of tornadoes.
While it caused a lot of damage and water levels may continue to rise for days, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said it was not “the worst-case scenario.”
Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Centre, told Al Jazeera that the powerful storms experienced by the US southeast in recent years are partly a result of man-made climate change.
“By putting so many greenhouse gases, carbon-containing gases, into the atmosphere that trap more heat by the surface, most of that heat goes into the ocean,” said Francis.
“And we know that heat in the ocean is the fuel that these storms feed off of. What this extra energy does to these storms is make them stronger, it makes them intensify more rapidly, [and] the evaporation from the extra warm water provides more moisture for them to use as rain – and we’ve seen the very heavy rain totals coming out of these storms,” she added.
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