Image: Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari stands next to one of the Iranian ballistic missiles Israel intercepted. Pic: AP
In a military base near the coast, we were shown the fuel tank for an Emad or ‘Pillar of Strength’ missile intercepted as it entered Israeli airspace that night.
It is 11 metres long, but with a warhead the size of a small car, it would have been even bigger at launch.
It has a range of 1,000 miles, a payload of half a tonne of explosives, is accurate to 10 metres and on Saturday was fired by the dozen at Israel.
Standing next to it, suddenly the claims that Iran‘s attack was in any way a token effort or symbolic seem absurd.
If any one of those ballistic missiles had reached an Israeli population centre it would have been devastating.
Showing the rocket to journalists, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the attack would not go unpunished.
He said: “Firing 110 ballistic missiles, directly to Israel, will not get off scot-free. We will respond. In our time. In our place. The way that we will choose.”
There is reportedly intense debate in the Israeli government about how that will happen.
But others fear that could jeopardise the coalition of allies and neighbours which helped protect Israel that night.
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Iran’s attack on Israel and what happened next
David Horovitz, editor of the Times of Israel and one of its most seasoned observers of the country’s international relations, told Sky News: “There’s concern that if you hit back, you risk shattering that coalition, you potentially prompt a further Iranian response and therefore a regional war, even potentially a world war.”
There is an opportunity. A chance to build on that coalition to create real international pressure on Iran not least to stop its alleged nuclear weapons programme.
But there is jeopardy too – with a huge amount at stake.
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