ISRAEL is gearing up to finally defeat arch enemy Iran which is expected to unleash an attack in mere hours, a Middle East expert has said.
Tel Aviv is preparing to “cut the head off the snake” of Tehran and its sprawling proxy network as they plan an imminent coordinated strike that could spark all-out war.
Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, an expert on the Middle East, told The Sun how and why a retaliatory attack from Iran is inevitable.
It follows a recent spate of targeted high-profile assassinations by Israel, killing two senior Hamas leaders and a Hezbollah commander.
Iran and its proxy groups, furious at the assassinations of their leaders, will launch a coordinated revenge strike “within hours”, Dr Rad said.
This, she thinks, will come from Iranian puppets in the region like Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah – who could fire ballistic missiles in a brutal barrage across the Lebanon border.
Tehran itself will also fire another fleet of rockets from its own military bases, stoking a fresh war in the Middle East.
The Iranian security pro said Israel will hit back even harder, unleashing its “full military capability” in a far harsher way than they did after Tehran’s April 13th hit.
She told The Sun Israel no longer wants to just fight the “legs of the octopus” but to cut off “the head of the snake”.
Meaning after almost ten months of battling Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah over its northern border, and the Houthis in Yemen – she believes Israel is ready to try and take out Iran once and for all.
And as boiling tensions in the region flare, Tehran’s nuclear capabilities remain a “serious” concern for the future of the Middle East.
It comes as several countries including Britain and the US have told their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately.
Officials in the US, Israel’s most powerful ally, have said they also expect a revenge strike from Iran within hours.
Israel’s suspected deadly hit on Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 was humiliating for Iran.
The terror boss was sleeping in a supposedly military-grade, bulletproof, heavily guarded compound in the north of Tehran when he was killed.
Dr Rad told The Sun: “Because of this direct attack and assassination attack in the heart of Tehran killing Ismail Haniyeh we are getting more and more close to starting a war.”
She explained that Khamenei’s formidable regime has “lost its credibility” among its proxies and across the region.
“This war will happen very soon,” Dr Rad warned, as Iran has no choice but to hit Israel in retaliation for Haniyeh’s death.
“Maybe in a few hours, maybe today or tomorrow [sic],” she added.
On April 1 Iran’s Syrian embassy in the capital Damascus was destroyed in a suspected Israeli strike – killing several top brass IRGC commanders.
Almost two weeks later on April 13, Iran fired 110 ballistic missiles, 36 cruise missiles and 185 attack drones towards Tel Aviv.
Dr Rad said Iran’s retaliatory launch will hit much sooner this time.
She told The Sun this time “Iran’s reaction would be hybrid, through a kind of multi-front. It would be direct and indirect.
“Indirect to its proxies especially Hezbollah and Houthis and it would be direct from Iran’s military missile bases.”
The Middle East expert thinks Iran will try to hit Israel’s military bases, as well as key army strongholds of other countries nearby.
But, she says, “Israel is well prepared for fighting” and it can “respond more harshly against Iran”.
Lebanon-based Hezbollah is Iran’s most formidable terror proxy puppet group.
Thought to be the world’s biggest and most powerful non-state military force, the terror group is made up of around 30,000 to 50,000 fighters.
It’s also the owner of an estimated 200,000 missiles, rockets, attack and reconnaissance drones.
Dr Rad told The Sun Hezbollah is bound to launch some kind of missile barrage, particularly with “ballistic” rockets, at Israel.
The security expert said this could also land within hours.
“Israel doesn’t want to deal with the other proxies including Hezbollah,” she told The Sun.
But it still poses a threat to Israel, and so Netanyahu’s forces could be looking to launch a preemptive attack near the south of Lebanon “within a few hours”.
Nuclear fears were stoked as tensions rocketed between the sworn enemies in April.
Dr Rad told The Sun Iran’s nuclear ability remains a primary concern.
She said: “Iran’s nuclear capabilities is one of the main threats and also [a] concern not only for all the world but also specifically for Israel.
“Iran will soon maybe reach, or even it has reached, the nuclear capability and nuclear military tools.”
Conflict in the region since war broke out on October 7 has brought out the “shadow war” between Iran and Israel, Dr Rad told The Sun.
“Israel and I think most of the great powers… believe that Iran has to be stopped at some point.
“They see Iran’s disruptive actions through its proxies.”
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
TENSIONS in the Middle East have long been a fluctuating and dangerous area of global concern.
Conflict between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and on Israeli territory itself is nothing new.
Iran and Israel have long been in conflict with each other too.
But after a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli soil in October last year, things entered a new phase.
Israel hit back like never before, unleashing almost ten months of ground warfare and airstrikes on the decimated enclave in a bid to destroy Hamas and rescue its hostages.
The Iran-backed terror group had killed some 1,200 Israeli people and kidnapped 250 more in the hideous October 7 massacre.
The UN estimates that at least 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the fresh war there broke out.
This figure includes data from the health ministry in Gaza which falls under Hamas domain and has sparked concerns from officials about accuracy.
Now, after almost ten months of war in Gaza, tensions have appeared to enter an all new high after a series of deadly strikes and high-profile assassinations in late July and early August.
On Saturday July 27, a rocket strike fired from southern Lebanon hit a football pitch in Golan Heights – a Druze village occupied by Israel – killing 12 young people including children.
Israel and the US both said Hezbollah, the largest of Iran’s terror proxy groups, operating out of Lebanon, were responsible for the deadly strike.
On Monday July 28, the IDF dropped an airstrike on an area of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, killing Hezbollah’s most senior military commander Fuad Shukr.
Less than two days later, at around 2am on Wednesday July 30, Israel killed Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh as he slept in Iran’s capital Tehran.
Israel has yet to explicitly claim responsibility for the hit, but after vowing to take out all of Hamas last year, they are widely believed to be behind it.
US officials have also said they suspect Israel of being behind the assassination.
On the morning of Thursday August 1 morning the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced that a strike on Khan Younis, southern Gaza, had killed Mohammed Deif on July 13.
Dief had worked as head of Hamas’ ruthless military wing, the al-Qassam brigades, since 2002.
It marked another major loss for Iran’s terror proxy groups in the region.
Early reports this week suggested Ismail Haniyeh was taken out in a precision strike, when a rocket was fired from a drone outside his window and detonated inside the room.
Then an investigation by the New York Times suggested a bomb had been planted in his room at the military-run compound where he was staying and detonated remotely.
Unnamed Iranian officials also shared the explosive theory with The Telegraph, further confusing the murky details around Haniyeh’s death.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), concluded its investigation into the humiliating security breach on Saturday August 1 and said he died after a “short-range projectile” was fired from outside the building.
A statement shared on Iranian state TV said a 7kg rocket warhead was used in the attack.
Iran and its proxy groups; Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen all vowed to seek revenge on Israel over the assassination of Haniyeh.
Then, on the night of Saturday August 3, Hezbollah fired some 30 rockets from Lebanon towards Galilee in northern Israel.
Tel Aviv’s impressive Iron Dome Defence system launched into action, destroying “most” of the missiles and no one was hurt.
But the UK, US and France have all urged their citizens to evacuate from Lebanon as fears of a wider war breaking out in the region continue to spiral.
Kasra Arabi, Director of IRGC research at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), also told The Sun he fears an imminent attack from Iran and its proxy network.
He said: “I think we’re very, very close to full scale confrontation or direct confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah.
“We have [already] been seeing this regional war that everyone’s talking about. We’re in the regional war.
“We have been in the regional war since October 7.”
If Hezbollah and Israel do escalate in their violent exchanges across the border, Kasra said there will certainly be civilian casualties in Lebanon.
He said the terror group uses “civilian outposts and buildings” to hide and shield it’s missiles.
Making it “harder for Israel to identify its key locations” and not drawing a clear line between “civilian and military targets”.
“Unfortunately, there will be civilian casualties. There’s no hiding away from that”, he told The Sun.
Speaking of Iran’s retaliatory strike, Kasra said: “We can be sure that the Iranian regime, the IRGC, Hezbollah, its network, their focus will be targeting Israel.
“Both civilians and military targets. They’ll try to mobilize all their proxies to strike.”
Kasra told The Sun that Iran’s network of proxies has “has encircled Israel.”
“The regime in Iran and its proxies are threatening to strike Israel very vocally and are firm in their intent.
“In doing so we can expect that to happen in the very near future, more likely days, according to all the intelligence reports that we have been seeing.”
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
IRAN launched an unprecedented aerial barrage on Israel overnight on Saturday April 13.
In the first attack of its kind, Iran hurled 110 ballistic missiles, 36 cruise missiles and 185 attack drones across Middle Eastern airspace.
Between Israel’s impressive Iron Dome air defence system and allied efforts from the UK and US, Tehran’s attack was largely thwarted.
At least four Typhoon fighters took out some of the weapons bound for Israel after scrambling from the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the ambush as a “declaration of war”.
Despite worldwide calls for cool heads to prevail, Netanyahu’s ranks repeatedly insisted that a retaliatory strike would be the only response.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: “We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression, Iran will not get [off] scot-free with this aggression.
“We will respond in our time, in our place, in the way that we will choose.”
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council vowed to hit back against Israel if a counter-attack was launched.
US president Joe Biden, said to privately fear a catastrophic escalation in the Middle East, pushed Netanyahu to call off an immediate retaliation on Saturday night.
Israel’s war cabinet then spent days locked in crunch meetings and quickly approved plans for an “offensive” but the timing and scale remained murky.
Despite Israel claiming otherwise, the US made clear that it would not contribute to a revenge hit against Iran.
Less than a week later, in the early hours of Friday 19 April, Israel hit back.
It launched a precise, targeted airstrike on an Iranian air force base near the City of Isfahan – next door to a nuclear site.
The impressive feat of military might and accurate intelligence forced Iran to back down.
