May 14, 2021
The Iranian news media have been having a field day telling the Iranian public that Israel is in “shock” and “confusion” after a Syrian missile passed through Israel airspace and landed “near” Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor. The missile in question, however, was not a ballistic missile of the type Israel has built defenses to stop, but rather a small anti-aircraft missile that missed an Israel fighter jet and landed in an open field about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Dimona. The daily Kayhan said Syria might actually have aimed at Dimona, though it could not have done so with an anti-aircraft missile. The Fars news agency noted that the incident came shortly after Iran said it would retaliate for recent damage done to Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex—wink, wink.