Iran and Israel’s shadow war explodes into the open

IT WAS THE opposite of “shock and awe”, a slow-moving drama that unfolded for hours before it culminated. First came grainy videos from remote bits of Iraq, the buzzing whine in the night sky a telltale sign that Iran had launched a fleet of drones. After midnight residents of Amman, the Jordanian capital, looked up to see flashes of light and a rain of debris. Then, shortly before 2am, came the air-raid sirens and the boom of interceptors in Israel, and a striking scene of missiles flying over the resplendent Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

On April 13th Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel. This was retaliation for an Israeli air strike on April 1st that killed seven Iranian officers, including a top general, at the country’s embassy in Damascus. It was at once dramatic and anticlimactic. Now Israel must decide how to respond. If Iran is able to strike other countries directly with impunity it could change the rules of the Middle East: until now it has often relied on deniable proxies. But it is far from clear Israel can retaliate effectively without risking all-out war and angering America and other allies.