AP Photo

The first indication that Israel has resorted to military action against Iran’s nuclear program would be explosions across the Islamic republic.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) - with its vaunted pilots and American-supplied warplanes - are so adept at surprise that Iraq and Syria never knew what hit them until their nuclear facilities lay smoldering.

But Iran and its scores of buried and cemented nuclear sites present a much more daunting campaign - one of days, not hours, and multiple weapons, not a few laser-guided bombs.

And unlike Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007, Iran can be expected to launch a fierce counterattack that likely would draw the United States into a low-level war with Tehran.

The strikes and counterstrikes could unfold this...