From striking proxies to hitting nuclear sites, what options Israel has for Iran retaliatory plan

New Delhi: Even though top European diplomats are making a last-ditch effort to prod Israel to show restraint after Iran’s aerial strikes, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, while thanking the allies support, has indicated that he plans to move forward with a retaliation plan. “I want to make it clear – we will make our own decisions,” he is reported to have asserted. Britain’s foreign secretary David Cameron, during his visit to Jerusalem, said, “It is clear that the Israelis are making a decision to act.”

While Israel’s response to Iran’s April 13 attack seems inevitable, let us look at the options the Jewish nation could be mulling to strike back at its adversary, with which it has been engaged in a decades-long shadow war.

Attack with aerial strikes

It could launch direct aerial strikes on the Islamic nation as Iran doesn’t have the strong multi-layered defence system that Israel has. Israeli air force officials said they are prepared to launch strikes on strategic Revolutionary Guards bases or nuclear research facilities. Israel won’t target civilian infrastructure like power plants, as it might cause civilian deaths, former intelligence officials told Reuters.

Striking proxy groups

For many years now, Israel has targeted Iranian military assets and the militias in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq that the Islamic nation allegedly backs. So, hitting Iranian personnel and proxies out of Iran will be a low-risk retaliation. Such attacks will drive home the message that Israel will give a befitting reply if its security is put at peril. A report in Financial Times quoted military analysts as saying that a suspected Iranian spy ship off the Red Sea, along with Iranian personnel helping the Yemen-based Houthi rebels could be potential regional targets.

Cyber attacks and assassinations

Many analysts also believe that retaliation in the form of a direct attack is right now not possible. Cyber attacks could be an option that Israel could be weighing. It has reportedly carried out such attacks in the past too. A cyberweapon Stuxnet was detected in 2010 that inflicted damage to Iran’s nuclear programme. The operations at Iranian port of Bandar Abbas were also affected and gas stations impacted following cyber attacks. Iran could launch cyber attacks to derail Iran’s energy production or flight services. Another kind of covert attack would be targeted assassinations of noted figures, including senior nuclear scientists, on Iranian soil.

Mounting diplomatic pressure

Israel could also take the diplomatic route. Isolating Iran could be a way. Already, global powers are considering fresh economic sanctions on Iran. And Israel can mount pressure to make these sanction more stringent.