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1 1 (April 22, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveozd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Escalation of the Israel-Iran Conflict Updated April 22, 2024 Overview A series of strikes and counter-strikes between Israel and Iran in April 2024, including the first-ever direct attack on Israel from Iranian soil, represents a significant escalation in a years-long shadow war between the two countries. Until now, the conflict had been fought mostly in theaters outside of each country's territory, between Israel and Iran-supported groups (such as Hezbollah in Lebanon), and/or by covert or non-kinetic means (such as cyberwarfare). Israel-Iran escalatory attacks also come at a time when Israel faces international pressure to reduce the impact of conflict on the Palestinian population in Gaza, where Israel and Harnas (an Iran-supported group and FTO) have been engaged in warfare since Hamas-led attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. Despite weeks-long U.S.-Israel tensions over Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, U.S. officials have communicated full U.S. support to defend Israel against any attacks by Iran and its regional proxies. One week after Iran's direct attack on Israel, and one day after an apparent Israeli strike in Iran that may have been sufficiently narrow in scope to avoid additional immediate escalation, the House passed legislation that would appropriate additional U.S. military assistance to Israel (along with global humanitarian aid partly for Gaza), as well as direct the imposition of additional sanctions on Iran. Iran's Direct Attack on Israel On April 13, Iran initiated the first-ever direct military action against Israel from Iranian territory in the form of aerial attacks (drones and ballistic and cruise missiles). Iran states that the attacks were in retaliation for an April 1 strike reportedly by Israel against a building within the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria. That strike killed high-level members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an arm of the Iranian military and a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). In total, Iran and allied groups reportedly launched approximately 350 drones and missiles from Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen toward Israel. Israel had already mobilized its air defense reserves, canceled schools, and closed its airspace. Once Iranian projectiles were airborne, Israel, along with the United States, Jordan, France, and the United Kingdom, reportedly intercepted most of them, using an array of combat aircraft and missile defense systems. The Israel Defense Forces said that nearly all the estimated Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN12347 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress