Saturday, October 26

Israel finally responded yesterday to Iran's airstrikes on them earlier in the month, hitting several military facilities in an hourslong attack.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had been targeting military-related sites, striking missile factories and surface-to-air missile launchers, among other things. They also struck sites in the capital of Tehran, which is home to almost 10 million people. However, Iran reported that the damage was "limited," and Israel has not made any statement on the damage yet.

Iran backs many other organizations in the Middle East that Israel considers as terrorists, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Due to Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah and the Houthis have also taken up conflicts with Israel, but Iran was usually indirectly involved.

Then, at the beginning of October, Iran launched hundreds of missiles towards Israel. Most were taken down by Israel's Iron Dome defense system, along with the help of the United States Navy, but some missiles still managed to do damage in parts of the country-- across the north, center, and south.

Iran claimed that the attacks were a response for Israel's targeted strikes on prominent Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, including the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nazrallah in Beirut and the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, in Tehran. The strikes also came just after Israel's pager attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, which killed dozens of people, injured thousands more, and devastated the organization. Israel promised a strong retaliation to Iran's attacks soon after, but that response did not come until now.

Originally, Israel was reportedly aiming to hit large-scale facilities like nuclear power plants and oil drilling sites, but United States President Joe Biden and other US negotiators confirmed that they had convinced Israel to avoid hitting those sites. Hitting facilities as important as those would cause massive amounts of damage, which would almost certainly escalate the conflict into an all-out war.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): If you order a sliced bagel in New York City, you will be charged extra-- “altered” bagels (sliced, toasted, served with cream cheese, etc.) carry an eight cent sales tax. However, uncut bagels are typically tax exempt.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Ask yourself: given everything you have to do, is there a way that we can make this better? (Daniel Ek)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Euphoria (noun)- Euphoria refers to a feeling of great happiness and excitement.

In a Sentence: The initial euphoria following their championship victory has since subsided.