Western countries are urging Israel to exercise restraint as the country’s war cabinet considers its response to Iran’s weekend attack. The missile and drone attack has increased fears of a wider regional war, prompting several allies to call for an end to the conflict. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, has warned that Israel needs to step back from the brink: “We’re on the edge of the cliff, and we have to move away from it.” French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron have echoed these sentiments, as has the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Russia has expressed concern about the risk of escalation and called for restraint, although it has refrained from criticising Iran in public. Belgium and Germany have summoned the Iranian ambassadors over the attack. The Israeli military reports that Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system with the help of the US, Britain, France, and Jordan. The attack was in response to an Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, which killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two generals.
Tehran’s retaliatory attack on Israel has increased fears of open warfare between the two countries and heightened concerns that violence will spread throughout the region. US President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will not participate in any Israeli counteroffensive against Iran. Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, clashes have erupted between Israel and Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
The conflict has raised concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than 33,500 people, primarily women and children, have been killed, and large parts of the territory have been reduced to rubble. Aid agencies have warned that parts of Gaza are facing a looming famine due to severe Israeli restrictions on supplies of food and humanitarian aid.
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