---
title: "Israel To Iran: Too Close For Missiles, I’m Switching To Tweets"
description: "The Israeli military followed up on its weekend strikes in Syria the same way that any modern military might: By taunting its regional foe Iran with a silly-ass tweet"
date: "2019-01-21"
modified: "2019-01-21"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/israel-iran-syria-strikes-tweet/"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "Mandatory Fun"
tags:
  - "central command"
---

# Israel To Iran: Too Close For Missiles, I’m Switching To Tweets

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/19104178-1.png>)

The Israeli military followed up on its weekend strikes in Syria the same way that any modern military might: By taunting its regional foe Iran with a silly-ass tweet.

Let's start from the beginning. Israeli Defense Forces launched a salvo of missiles at the Syrian capital of Damascus on Sunday as part of its increasingly belligerent posture towards the Iranian forces fighting there, Reuters [reports](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-israel-strikes/israeli-military-strikes-iranian-targets-in-syria-idUSKCN1PE0Y2>).

The raid purportedly targeted Iranian military personnel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [told](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-israel-strikes/israeli-military-strikes-iranian-targets-in-syria-idUSKCN1PE0Y2>) Reuters. According to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 11 people were killed.

"We will strike at anyone who tries to harm us," Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Speaking to a state-run news website in the aftermath of the strikes early Monday, the head of the Iranian Air Force [responded](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-babies/chinese-scientist-who-gene-edited-babies-fired-by-university-idUSKCN1PF0RA>) in kind: "The young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth."

And then, several hours later, this happened:

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1087360814644899841

Two things come to mind here. First, I can't help but think of *[LikeWar](<https://amzn.to/2Cz81oX>)*, last year's topography of warfare in the digital age by *Ghost Fleet* co-author Peter Singer that details the way in which state and non-state actors battle for hearts and minds through the Internet. This silly tweet isn't an exception; it's the perfect embodiment of #LikeWar in a nutshell.

Second: Who wants to bet that this IDF social media manager was definitely blasting Flock Of Seagulls while messing around in KidPix here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIpfWORQWhU

A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran (Video)

[youtu.be](<https://youtu.be/iIpfWORQWhU?t=52>)

I'll see myself out:

### SEE ALSO: China Swallowed Islands In The South China Sea. Now It Wants To Eat Djibouti Like Groceries

### WATCH NEXT: Footage Shows Israeli Airstrikes In Syria

## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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