Revealed: The four attack plans being considered by the Israeli war cabinet

Tel Aviv: Israeli leaders are debating how best to respond to Iran’s unprecedented airstrike over the weekend, officials said, weighing a set of options calibrated to achieve different strategic outcomes: deterring a similar attack in the future, appeasing their American allies and avoid an all-out war.

Iran’s attack on Israel, an immense bombardment that included hundreds of ballistic missiles and explosive drones, changed the unspoken rules in its archrivals’ long shadow war. In that conflict, large air attacks from the territory of one country directly against the other were avoided.

Given that change in precedent, the calculus by which Israel decides its next step has also changed, said the Israeli officials who requested anonymity to discuss Iran.

“We cannot stand by in the face of this type of aggression,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for Israel’s military. Iran, he added, will not emerge “free from this aggression.”