[philled]

How does Israel get to Iran? How do their helicopters come in to play? WOuld they have to fly over Iraq? I’d think the Iraqi government would be hesitant to give permission at this point. Otherwise, I guess they’ve shown Syria’s air defenses to be wanting- how would Turkey react? How about flying over Saudi Arabia?

[rmlew]

They would fly over Jordan to Iraq, just like the Osirak raid. Then they would cross into Iran.

[tanknetter]

How does Israel get to Iran? How do their helicopters come in to play? WOuld they have to fly over Iraq? I’d think the Iraqi government would be hesitant to give permission at this point. Otherwise, I guess they’ve shown Syria’s air defenses to be wanting- how would Turkey react? How about flying over Saudi Arabia?

My guess is that with the exceptions of Syria (ostensibly an ally) and Iraq (too formative to want to be anything but strictly neutral), every significant country in the region is going to be secretly cheering on the Israelis, even if they publically condemn a raid and start sabre-rattling in return.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Saudis just look the other way and let the Israelis use their airspace. The upper echelon of the House of Saud (as opposed to the bazillion lesser princes) are businessmen first and the nutjobs on the other side of the Persian Gulf are pretty bad for business (high-risk in the long term). An added benefit for them is that having the Israelis manage to "sneak through" their airspace is pretty good justification for speeding up the reequipment of their military (they apparently want Eurofighter Typhoons. Lots and lots of Eurofighter Typhoons).