Israel has taken the gloves off and sent in the exterminators, and the rats are running for cover. One of the rats is Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has reportedly been moved to a “secure location” within Iran:
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been transferred to a secure location somewhere within the country, according to Reuters.The outlet reported that Iran is in “constant contact” with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other proxy groups to determine next steps.
Khamenei’s movement comes hours after he urged Muslims in the region “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the … wicked regime [of Israel].”
“The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” the leader added, according to state media reports.
One wonders if the Ayatollah took his pager with him to the “secure location.” As for the “proud Hezbollah,” that organization was just decapitated with the death of Hassan Nasrallah, only days after some of the most interesting operations in recent history, which operations included exploding electronics:
The strike on Friday targeted Hezbollah’s “central headquarters,” which was located “under residential buildings in the heart” of Dahiyeh, in Beirut, according to an Israeli military spokesman. Videos circulated online of the destruction the airstrike caused, hours before word of Nasrallah’s death was confirmed.
Israel clearly isn’t playing around anymore; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the UN as much, and the IDF is certainly upping its game:
Previously on RedState:
Bombshell Report: Israel Didn’t Hack Hezbollah Pagers — It Made Them As Part of Complex Ruse
Netanyahu Gives Fiery Speech to UN Declaring Israel Has Had Enough
Israel Confirms Death of the Terrorist Nasrallah; Does This Open a Door for Peace in the Region?
Now, with all that said: It seems unlikely that Israel will strike at Iran’s Supreme Leader personally, for several reasons.
First: Even for Israel’s vaunted intelligence apparatus, it wouldn’t be an easy task to locate the Ayatollah, especially now that he has been moved to this “secure location.” That location, we should note, may well be deep underground.
Second: Striking deep into Iran would be a major logistical headache. This would require IDF aircraft to overfly unfriendly airspace, not to mention Iranian airspace itself. While Iran’s air force isn’t exactly state-of-the-art, it does have air-defense systems like the Bavar-373 missile system, which is not to be sneezed at. Any Israeli strike deep into Iran is certain to incur losses – and an Israeli pilot ejecting over Iran is unlikely to receive good treatment on the ground.
Third: Striking directly at Iran’s secular and religious leader may represent an escalation that even Israel isn’t anxious to take on.
But there’s an upside, one that may make such a direct strike unnecessary. Israel has clearly made an impression on Iran, even without any direct strike at the Islamic Republic’s leader. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been un-aliving Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists in big carload lots even before the pager-go-BOOM operation. Now the IDF has permanently revoked the birth certificate of Hezbollah’s leader, and in so doing not only removed a nasty piece of work from the game but also demonstrated their ability to locate and remove major players in both of the Iran-backed jihadi groups.
Now, even Iran’s Supreme Leader has joined the legions of rats scurrying for cover. That’s a good thing in itself.
