How Israel could respond to Iran

Hello. Today we look at what Israel could do after its political and military leaders vowed to make Iran "pay" for its missile attack on Tuesday night. Fighting is continuing, meanwhile, in Lebanon and Gaza. We also report on Mexico, where Claudia Sheinbaum became the country's first female president. Finally, I have stories on fruit flies, and moths.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What could come next between Israel and Iran

Most of the Iranian ballistic missiles were intercepted, according to the Israeli military. Credit: Reuters

The head of the Israeli military, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, stressed on Wednesday that his forces had "the ability to reach and attack any point in the Middle East". His comments come shortly after the Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed Iran would "pay" for firing 180 missiles at the country.

What can we expect from Israel?

Given Israel’s determination to take on all its enemies at once - in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Syria - the Netanyahu government seems to be in no mood to hold back. Israeli planners will likely now be debating not if and when to hit Iran, but how hard.

What could be their targets?

They can broadly be divided into three categories: Conventional military, with an early and obvious target being the bases from which Iran launched its ballistic missiles. Israel could even try to assassinate key individuals involved in Iran’s ballistic missile programme. Economic, such as petrochemical plants and other energy infrastructure - but these would end up hurting ordinary people’s lives far more. And finally nuclear, the big one for Israel. Among other allies, it suspects Iran of trying to reach "breakout point" where it is within a very short timescale of being able to build a nuclear bomb.

How might Iran respond then?

Iran cannot defeat Israel militarily. Its air force is old and decrepit, its air defences are porous and it has had to contend with years of Western sanctions. But it still has an enormous quantity of ballistic and other missiles as well as explosive-laden drones and numerous allied proxy militias around the Middle East. Its Navy could also attempt to sow mines in the Strait of Hormuz, interrupting the flow of up to 20% of the world’s daily oil exports.

THE BIG PICTURE

How fly brains can shed light on human thought

A fly's brain has more than 130,000 wires with 50 million intricate connections. Credit: MRC/Nature

For the first time in history, scientists have produced a detailed analysis of the brain of a fruit fly, down to every single one of its 130,000 cells. Our brains contain a million time more cells, but this study of how flies think about movement and vision can help us understand how they work.

And finally... in Wales

A new species of moth has been found after travelling thousands of miles in a photographer's boot bag. Two clearwing moths seem to have hitched a 4,500-mile ride from a jungle in Guyana, South America, to Port Talbot, where an ecologist spotted them on a windowsill. Tests showed they were of a kind unknown to science.