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Israel braces for Iranian military reaction

Following attacks in Syria against Iranian targets and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "atomic archive" speech, Israeli officials are debating how to react to an anticipated response from Tehran.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. 

Members of the Iranian revolutionary guard march during a parade to commemorate the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), in Tehran September 22, 2011. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY ANNIVERSARY) - GM1E79M1GMB01

It was an especially crazy day, even for the Middle East. On the morning of April 30, Israelis woke up to images of an Iranian target in the middle of Syria that was devastated by an aerial attack overnight. That evening, they watched as their prime minister, in his role as the ideal presenter when it comes to discussing a nuclear Iran, presented them and the world with the Iranian nuclear archives, brought right to the heart of Tel Aviv by Mossad agents operating in the center of Tehran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked like a groom on his wedding day. He had the demeanor of an Apple executive introducing the world to the latest iPhone, not the darkest secrets of Iran’s nuclear program. Ostensibly, it was another productive day for Israel’s leaders and their security forces. In reality, Israel and Iran were still dancing a deadly tango on the mouth of the Middle Eastern volcano. At some point, what started as a slow waltz will turn into a frenzied sword dance.

On the morning of April 30, the aerial attack on a munitions storage site near Aleppo could still be heard echoing across the landscape. The fireballs that ripped across the Syrian sky were still burning when The New York Times reported that 200 ballistic missiles, which Iran had stockpiled in an air base in Syria, were destroyed. According to Western intelligence sources, the missiles were intended to be part of an attack that Iran was planning against Israel, in response to an earlier attack by the Israeli air force (according to foreign news sources) against Syria’s T-4 air base near Homs, which Iran had been using to launch drones.

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