Europe joins US in urging restraint by Israel after Iranian drone and missile attack
- World leaders urge Israel not to retaliate for large Iranian drone and missile attack
- Weekend attack was revenge for strike on Iranian embassy grounds in Syria on April 1
Israel’s European allies urged it on Monday to show restraint over Iran’s weekend missile and drone attack, calling on Israeli leaders to step away from “the edge of the cliff” of escalation in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, which is empowered to decide on the country’s response, was set to convene later Monday, a government source said.
Israeli officials said the war cabinet, which also met on Sunday, favoured retaliation but was divided over the timing and scale of any such response.
The Iranian attack on Saturday, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building, marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Iranian attack, involving more than 300 missiles and drones, caused only modest damage in Israel. Most were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and with help from the US, Britain, France and Jordan.