The shadow war between Iran and Israel has been exposed. What happens next?

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel early Sunday marked a change in approach for Tehran, which had relied on proxies across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October. All eyes are now on whether Israel chooses to take further military action, while Washington seeks diplomatic measures instead to ease regional tensions.

Iran says the attack was in response to an airstrike widely blamed on Israel that destroyed what Iran says were consular offices in Syria and killed two generals with its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard earlier this month.

Israel said almost all the over 300 drones and missiles launched overnight by Iran were shot down by its anti-missile defense system, backed by the U.S. and Britain. The sole reported casualty was a wounded girl in southern Israel, and a missile struck an Israeli airbase, causing light damage.

Still, the chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard called the operation successful.

Iran has managed to strike a balance between retaliating publicly for the strike in Damascus and avoiding provoking further Israeli military action at least initially, which could lead to a much wider conflict, said Mona Yacoubian, vice president of the Middle East and North Africa center at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

“Both (Iran and Israel) are able at this point to claim victory and step down off the precipice, particularly since there were no Israeli civilians killed,” Yacoubian said.

The world was still waiting, however, for the result of an Israeli War Cabinet meeting on Sunday. Israeli hard-liners have pushed for a response, but others have suggested restraint, saying Israel should focus on strengthening budding ties with Arab partners.

“We will build a regional coalition and collect the price from Iran, in the way and at the time that suits us,” said Benny Gantz, a member of the War Cabinet.

Analysts say Iran sent a message that it would be willing to escalate and change its rules of engagement in its shadow war with Israel.

“It’s a warning shot, saying that if Israel breaks the rules, there are consequences,” said Magnus Ranstorp, strategic adviser at the Swedish Defense University.

Iran’s attack has further stoked fears of the war in Gaza causing regional havoc.

But Iran maintains that it does not seek all-out war across the region. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Iran has “no intention of continuing defensive operations” at this point unless it is attacked.

Iran stressed that it targeted Israeli facilities involved in the Damascus attack, not civilians or “economic areas.”

After Israel began its offensive in Gaza against Hamas, Iran-backed groups were involved militarily while Tehran sat on the sidelines. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group fired rockets into northern Israel. Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked Western ships on the Red Sea. An umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias attacked U.S. military positions in Iraq and Syria.

Now, Tehran is “willing to up the ante” without relying on proxies, said the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, Maha Yahya.

Still, Iran only went so far.

“They gave enough warning that this was coming, and I think they knew that they (the drones and missiles) would be brought down before they reached Israeli territory,” Yahya said.

She also noted that the recent mounting pressure on Israel over its conduct in Gaza has now shifted to deescalating regional tensions instead.

Yacoubian says Washington has a critical role to play in avoiding further escalations.

Israel taking further military action does not seem popular among its allies including the United States, said Eldad Shavit, who heads the Israel-U.S. Research Program at Israeli think tank the Institute for National Security Studies.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told NBC that President Joe Biden does not want an escalation in the regional conflict or a “wider war” with Iran, and is “working on the diplomatic side of this personally.”

Urgent meetings of the G7 — the informal gathering of industrialized countries that includes the United States, United Kingdom, and France — and the U.N. Security Council were being held Sunday.

G7 meeting participants in a statement unanimously condemned Iran's attack, saying “we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives.”

Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Amir Vahdat in Tehran and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report.

A cleric chants slogans during an anti-Israeli gathering in front of the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran, early Sunday, April 14, 2024. Iran launched its first direct military attack against Israel on Saturday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A wealthy Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area has submitted what it says are enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the November election.

The campaign submitted more than 20,000 signatures but would need only about 13,000 valid ones to qualify for the ballot. If verified by Solano County’s elections office, voters will decide in the fall whether to allow urban development on land currently zoned for agriculture. The land-use change would be necessary for the development to be built.

Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader who heads the company behind the campaign, California Forever, said at a news conference Tuesday that he heard from thousands of people who want careers and homes in the county where they grew up but can no longer afford because of high housing costs and a lack of nearby work.

“They are fed up with this malaise that's plagued California for the last 20 years with this culture of saying no to everything that has made it increasingly impossible for working families to reach the California dream,” he said.

The yet-unnamed development would mix homes, green space, a walkable downtown and jobs between Travis Air Force Base and the Sacramento River Delta city of Rio Vista. Sramek said he expects to start with 50,000 residents within the next decade, with homes starting at $400,000. The median sale price of a home in March was closer to $600,000, according to Redfin.

The controversial project has wealthy and powerful backers, including philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. The campaign declined to disclose how much money they spent to collect the signatures, saying that information would be available eventually.

It also faces strong opposition by some elected officials and other critics who say Sramek’s plan is a speculative money grab that’s light on details.

Sramek outraged locals by quietly purchasing more than $800 million in farmland since 2018 and even suing farmers who refused to sell. Reps. John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, who oppose the project, were initially alarmed that foreign adversaries or investors might be buying up the land because of its proximity to the Air Force base.

“What people are really upset about are the tactics being used to obtain the goal at the end. The promise of jobs and affordable housing, that's not a guarantee," said Princess Washington, mayor pro tem of Suisun City. “What we’re looking at is a policy change, and overturning of our stance against sprawl development.”

Sramek unveiled plans for the development in January but had to amend the land-use change ballot initiative twice to address county and Air Force concerns. The delays haven't slowed the project's timeline.

The proposal includes an initial $400 million to help residents and Air Force base families buy homes in the community or for new affordable housing, as well as an initial guarantee of 15,000 local jobs paying a salary of at least $88,000 a year.

California is desperate for more housing, but critics of the project say it would be more environmentally sound to build within existing cities than to convert designated farmland.

AP journalist Terry Chea contributed to this report from Solano County.

Suisun City Mayor Pro Tem Princess Washington stands next to the Suisun Slough in Suisun City on April 30, 2024. She's part of a coalition called California Together that opposes the new Solano County city proposed by California Forever. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks at a news conference announcing that his group has submitted signatures for a November ballot measure that would clear hurdles to build a new city in Solano County. Vallejo, Calif. April 30, 2024 (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

FILE - A map of a new proposed community in Solano County, Calif., is displayed during a news conference in Rio Vista, Calif. on Jan. 17, 2024. The Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a new city in California for up to 400,000 people said Tuesday, April 30, 2024, it has submitted enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the November election. (AP Photo/Janie Har, File)