In the night of Saturday to Sunday local time, Iran launched more than three hundred drones and missiles towards Israel, almost all of which were shot down by air defense systems and aircraft in Israel and Jordan, with support from the U.S. and the U.K.
Iran stated that the military action was in retaliation for a recent attack on its consulate in Damascus, Syria that killed two generals and several other officials. Israel is widely assumed to have been behind the attack some two weeks ago, although it has not officially confirmed it.
Citing Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Iran has justified the direct retribution – the first time it has directly launched an attack from its own soil – as self-defense and stated, “the matter can be deemed concluded,” according to reporting by the BBC. The UN Charter’s Article 51 recognizes "the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs."
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations tweeted, “Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus."
It warned that, “should Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe.”
While acknowledging that the widely-condemned attack was bigger than many analysts expected, a BBC report also pointed out that Iran had given warnings for days and that the statements as well as the attack itself showed a desire to cool down the situation rather than escalate further.
“Iran chose to open the attack not with supersonic ballistic missiles, but with slow drones, that were on radar screens for two hours as they approached their targets,” BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen writes.
Much of the international community has condemned Iran’s actions but also called for restraint and de-escalation. While life in Israel is returning to normal with airports resuming normal operation, Israel said it would respond to Iran’s aggression when the time is right.
A further escalation of the war in Gaza that began with the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel has been a lingering concern for months. Iran has been involved in a proxy war against Israel for years, mainly through its financial and military support for Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen and others, while Israel has been striking targets related to Iran in neighboring countries.
The ongoing war has been a polarizing issue in many parts of the world, also dividing opinions among Christian leaders.
A recent opinion article on Christian Daily International pointed to the complexity and dilemma of both, the war aiming to eradicate Hamas or a cease-fire that is poised to be a pre-lude to another attack on Israel in the future.
Meanwhile, Christian voices in the region point to the spiritual issue at the heart of the conflict.
In an interview with CDI last month, Jordanian Rami Al Halaseh, Arabic Channels Executive Director of Sat-7, said, “According to the Bible, we as Christians shouldn't think of any human being as the enemy. Because according to the Bible, our fight is not against flesh and blood, it's against spiritual forces. (Ephesians 6:12) And we believe that any conflict in the world, any conflict that leads to the killing of children, women and men, is in its essence a spiritual problem, and we cannot solve a spiritual problem with carnal solutions.”
“They talk about peace. They have been talking about peace for the last seventy years and beyond. But peace cannot happen and cannot be experienced without a relationship with God through Jesus Christ,” he commented.
“The Bible says that Jesus is the author of peace and author to me means he invented the concept. He invented that status of peace. So, unless we believe in Jesus, unless we are in Christ, we can never see peace established. It will only last for a few years, but then something else will happen. And then we'll go back to the same old Psalm.”
And while the secular media focuses on Iran’s military aggression and political power play, Christian ministries serving in the country highlight that large parts of the population are dissatisfied with their government and many are coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
