Well, for the second time in six months, Iranian forces launched a massive aerial attack on Israel.

What does this latest flashpoint hold for the region after Israel's punishing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

We have perspectives now from two long-time watchers of the region.

Suzanne Maloney is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Center for Middle East Policy,

and David Mikofsky is the director of the Washington Institute

for the Near East Policy Project

on the Middle East Peace Process.

Thank you both for being here.

Suzanne, we'll start with you.

I want to start with your reaction to today's developments.

What does it suggest about the future course of this war?

I think we're on the precipice of something that we really haven't experienced before,

which would be a direct engagement, a direct military conflict between Israel and Iran.

The two countries have been locked in conflict for decades, but it has largely been a gray zone war.

And for their part, the Iranians have primarily relied upon proxies,

including and especially Hezbollah,

in order to wreak violence against Israel.

What we're now seeing in April and with this latest attack is that they are prepared

to violate a taboo that had held for 45 years a direct attributable attack from Iran against Israel, which does run the risk of a direct

interstate war, which would have devastating consequences for Iran and for the wider region.

And David, give us a sense of how Israel is calibrating its response right now, especially

in light of this statement from the Prime Minister that Iran made a big mistake and will pay

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