EDITORIAL — Was it really necessary?

Any hope for some peace in the Middle East was shattered the other day after Israel launched missile attacks against targets in Iran.

Dozens of sites related to Iran’s nuclear program were attacked. Missiles also targeted key people in the nuclear program as well as the top three military officials of the country, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified their actions saying that Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb, and Israel was just defending itself from a threat that was becoming clear to them.

Who knows what the Israel top brass is thinking these days, but they seem to be making one bad decision after another.

Was this attack really necessary? Israel and Iran have traded missiles before, it’s nothing new. But their tit-for-tat exchange has never been seen as an all-out war.

But in targeting Iran’s nuclear program --one that international experts said doesn’t seem to be going on the path of weaponization-- and killing their military leadership, Israel crosses a line. This attack is a good as a declaration of war.

Now Israel may have just opened up another front where they have to guarantee victory, aside from the one they have in Gaza and their conflict with Hezbollah.

While Israel’s attack did take Iran by surprise, can they really call it a victory? Because if early intel gathered after the attack is right, not much of Iran’s nuclear program was really affected at all. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor, it might seem like a victory but actually just become a catalyst to galvanize enemy resolve against them.

What Israel may have accomplished may be just to guarantee that Iran will not hold back in attacking them for this incident, as well as in the future using the same justification Israel put forward; that they see an existential threat.

If there was any doubt as to who Iran may be targeting if they are indeed building a nuclear bomb, after this there may be no more doubt.

Of course, the possibility of this conflict escalating into a regional war is always in the shadows. And any war in such a volatile region always has the possibility of drawing in other countries or powers.