Israel has delayed its announced retaliatory attack on Iran for its October 1 airstrike due to the leak of secret American documents, the British daily The Times wrote on Thursday. They were supposed to contain Israeli plans.
“The leak of American documents delayed the attack because it was necessary to change some strategies and elements (…) Retaliation will take place, but it will take longer than expected,” an intelligence source familiar with the matter told the newspaper.
“Israel fears that thanks to the leaked American documents, Iran may predict certain aspects of the attack, which necessitated the preparation of a new plan,” added The Times.
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On Friday in connection with Iran Documents described as a secret report by American intelligence institutions on Israeli preparations for the attack were published on a Telegram channel.
The materials, based, among other things, on satellite intelligence, show that Israel is preparing to attack with ballistic missiles launched from aircraft, but they do not specify the place and time of a possible attack.
An Israeli soldier near the UNIFIL base in An-NakuraMENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/East News
Iran's revenge for the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders
Iran fired a salvo of approximately 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1. Most of them were shot down, one person – a Palestinian – was killed. The military later said some rockets hit military bases but did not cause significant damage.
Iran announced that the attack was in retaliation for Israel's killing of the leaders of the movements it supports – Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Israel announced its response. President USA Joe Bidennot wanting to create even more tension in the Middle East, warned Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and mining industry. According to the media, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to tell the Americans that Israel would strike military targets.
Main photo source: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/East News