High risk assault on Israel reflects Iranian elite’s belief that not retaliating after July assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was a strategic mistake

Iran said its supreme leader made the decision to fire dozens of missiles into Israel as retaliation for the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the recent killings of leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, two of the main groups in Iran’s so-called axis of resistance.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the decision had been made by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with backing of the supreme national security council (SNSC) and the Ministry of Defence.