Israel vs Iran: will the conflict escalate further?

Jerusalem

It’s a sunny day in Jerusalem where Israelis are waking up to fresh conflict on the country’s border with Syria. I’m in town as part of a Bicom delegation and the picturesque scenes give little indication of the events of the night before which saw 20 rockets fired by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at Golan Heights overnight. In response, Israel upped the ante and sent more rockets back – targeting Iranian weapons depots, logistics sites and intelligence centres. This marks a serious ratcheting up of tensions between Israel and Iran following increasing unease about Iranian presence in Syria and Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday. It is the first time Iranian forces have fired directly on Israeli troops. A retaliation attack had been expected for some time after Israel’s military attacked 12 Syrian and Iranian targets inside Syria in February. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman says they are victims of Iranian aggression – though the size of their reply, reported as being somewhere around 60 rockets – suggests Iran is not alone in aggressive behaviour.