The situation in the Middle East continues to heat up, and the White House does not rule out the possibility of a full-scale war between Israel and Iran. The announcement came after a deadly airstrike on the Islamic Republic's embassy in Syria, which killed two generals and five IRGC officers. Iran has vowed to respond to the attack, calling it a violation of international law. John Kirby, the National Security Council's strategic communications coordinator, said Washington is "very concerned" about the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.

Middle East expert Lyudmila Samarskaya believes that a full-scale war between Israel and Iran is unlikely. It assumes that the parties will continue to act through proxy forces. Samarskaya notes that from the very beginning of the current aggravation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, there were fears about a full-scale war in the region, but so far it has been avoided.

 

 

 

John Kirby told CNN that the White House is "concerned" about the possibility of tensions between Iran and Israel escalating into full-scale war in light of the attack. He added that “we all take this very, very seriously. Nobody wants this conflict to escalate.” Kirby also noted that US President Joe Biden, in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussed “the very real threat from Iran to the state of Israel.”

In response to Iran's threats of retaliation, Israel has already taken high alert measures. The Israeli army suspended leave for all combat units and increased the combat readiness of combat units, including aviation.

 

 

All analysts agree that a war between Iran and Israel would mark a significant escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. However, Iran has avoided direct involvement in the armed conflict, and both sides have avoided launching attacks directly on each other's territory. However, the fear that Iran was about to strike Israel did not arise out of nowhere. The Axios portal, citing Israeli sources, reported that Israel has intelligence that shows Iran could attack Israel from its territory using long-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or unmanned aerial vehicles.

Despite the concerns, experts say a full-scale war between Israel and Iran is unlikely. They assume that the parties will continue to operate through proxy forces and that the conflict will continue in the form of surgical strikes. However, the situation remains tense, and there are no guarantees that a full-scale war will not occur.