Israel and Iran Enter Second Week of Conflict Amid Regional and Global Concerns

From the outset, communication lines between the two countries collapsed, making de-escalation especially difficult. Israeli leaders, backed by much of their domestic political spectrum, vowed to respond with overwhelming force to any attack. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) immediately called up reserves and placed the country on the highest alert since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Within hours, Tel Aviv and other urban centers imposed blackouts and instructed citizens to find shelter in bomb shelters. Iran responded in kind, rallying its population and activating elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) across the region. International airlines rapidly suspended flights to airports in Tel Aviv, Tehran, and nearby cities, stranding thousands of travelers and exasperating the sense of crisis.