Israel Fears Embassy Bombs Herald Wave of Iranian Attacks

Israel blamed Iran on Tuesday for a series of blasts in Bangkok, a day after its embassy staff were targeted in India and Georgia, with press commentators fearful they heralded further attacks.

Following Monday's attacks on embassy cars in New Delhi and Tbilisi, which left an Israeli woman diplomat critically injured in the Indian capital, Israel's main newspapers warned it could mark the start of a series of deadly attacks on Israeli targets.

Israel blamed Iran for Monday's attacks, warning the Islamic republic was behind the attempted bombings, and also implicated Hizbullah in a series of failed attempts to target Israelis in Thailand and Azerbaijan last month.

Such fears were reinforced on Tuesday when a series of blasts hit Bangkok, with police saying they believed one of the perpetrators was an Iranian.

"The attempted attack in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies are continuing to act in the ways of terror and the latest attacks are an example of that," said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

"Iran and Hizbullah are unrelenting, uninhibited sources of terror," he said. There was no immediate indication the failed Bangkok attacks were targeting Israelis.

Despite the rhetoric, a harsh Israeli response was "unlikely," the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper said.

"Monday's attacks were still limited enough that they didn't violate the 'rules of the game,'" it said, indicating they may have been an attempt to avenge the killing of four Iranian scientists, which were widely blamed on Israel.

"If, as is widely believed, Israel is behind a recent series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in Tehran, government officials presumably knew that Iranian revenge attacks were likely and took that possibility into account," it said, noting that both incidents involved "relatively low-level targets" and caused few casualties.

"Israel is not about to go to war over the bombing of a diplomatic car in New Delhi and an attempted bombing in Tbilisi," the Jerusalem Post said.

"But if Iran and Hizbullah continue their efforts and succeed in perpetrating a large attack producing greater casualties and devastation, the government will have a difficult time holding itself back."

Many papers suggested the attacks, which followed several failed attempts against Israeli targets in Azerbaijan and Thailand last month, were the start of a wave of attempts targeting Israelis overseas.

"Israel views both terror attacks yesterday as part of a surging wave of terror attacks," wrote commentator Alex Fishman in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

"It is unlikely that the Iranian intelligence officer in Tehran who is responsible for organizing this wave will win a promotion for his achievements so far," he wrote.

"But the existence of this wave means that there are additional terror cells out there in other places on the planet, which are continuing to seek an Israeli target. The order given to make every effort to get Israel to stop killing Iranian scientists has already been issued, and these attempted terror attacks will continue."

On January 13, Thai police arrested a Lebanese man with suspected links to Hizbullah on suspicion he was preparing to attack tourists, with Israel warning its citizens to avoid Bangkok due to "a serious and imminent danger."

A few days later, Azerbaijan said it had arrested three men who were planning to attack Israelis working at a Jewish school in Baku.

Following Monday's attempted bombings, the Israeli foreign ministry raised the state of alert at its embassies to the highest existing level over concerns they marked "the beginning of a wave of terrorism," Maariv reported.

Even in Israel, police raised the general state of alert "with emphasis on security in public places and areas, including foreign embassies and places of foreign interest, such as the airport," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

The bombers in New Delhi and Tbilisi used magnetic bombs -- in what appeared to be an identical modus operandi used by those involved in killing the Iranian scientists.

The incidents took place between the anniversaries of the killing of two top Hizbullah commanders, Imad Mughniyeh and Abbas Moussawi, whose deaths were blamed on Israel and sparked vows of revenge from the Lebanese armed group.