In response to Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon and the assassination of both Hamas and the organization’s leader, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
Israelis piled into bomb shelters, setting off alarms and causing explosions to be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley. During live broadcasts, state television reporters would lie flat on the ground.
Reporters at Reuters witnessed missiles being intercepted in Jordan’s neighboring airspace. According to Israeli media sources, up to 100 missiles had been fired.
Following the intercept of a “large number” of Iranian missiles, the military declared after approximately an hour that there was no longer a threat and that “it is now permitted to leave protected spaces in all areas across the country.”
There have been reports of 150–200 missiles fired during the raid.
Following a devastating Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus in April, Iran launched its second missile and drone attack on Israel.
An army spokesman for Israel declared that the country would strike back at a time and location of its choice.
“This assault will have repercussions. We will operate at the location and time we determine, according to our plans, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli military, stated.
According to emergency services, the rocket attack resulted in minor injuries to at least two individuals.
A statement from the Magen David Adom emergency agency stated, “At this time, there are no reports of injuries from the fire towards Israel, aside from two minor injuries from shrapnel in the Tel Aviv area and some minor injuries nationwide while moving to safe spaces.”
The Revolutionary Guards of Iran said that the missile attack was a reaction to the assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah chairman Hassan Nasrallah last week.
The Guards said in a statement obtained by the Fars news agency, “We targeted the heart of the occupied territories (Israel) in response to the martyrdom of [Hamas leader] Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah, and [Guards commander] Nilforoshan.”
In the event that regional Israel retaliated following the missile incident, the Guards prepared to launch “crushing attacks.”
The Guard declared, “The Zionist regime will face crushing attacks if it reacts to Iranian operations.”
According to a senior Iranian source who spoke to Reuters, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave the order to launch missiles against Israel, and Tehran “is fully ready for any retaliation.”
The attack on Israel is a “legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts,” according to a post made on X by Iran’s envoy to the UN in New York.
“There will be a harsh and decisive reaction if the Zionist regime responds or engages in more acts of evil. Regional states and the Zionists’ allies are recommended to sever ways with the regime,” the mission wrote.
Israel’s Ben Gurion airport has suspended flight service, according to a spokesman. The principal international airport in Israel has no takeoffs or landings at the moment, according to a spokesperson.
The military had earlier advised the population to seek cover in safe rooms in case of an assault and stated that any ballistic missile strike from Iran was anticipated to be widespread.
Following assaults in Lebanon that resulted in the senior leadership of Iran’s Hezbollah allies being assassinated, Iran has threatened to react.
Following Israel’s announcement that its forces had conducted limited ground assaults into Lebanon, missiles were fired. Since combat broke out in Gaza a year ago, the Israeli incursion in Lebanon represents the largest intensification of regional warfare to date.
US President Joe Biden declared in Washington that his country was ready to assist Israel in defending itself against missile strikes by Iran.
“We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region,” Biden said on X of a meeting held with Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House national security staff earlier in the day.
The US military was ordered by Biden to support Israel’s defense and intercept missiles aimed at the country, according to the White House National Security Council (NSC).
Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris are following the incident from the White House situation room and receiving continuous briefings, NSC spokesperson Sean Savett said in a post on X.
Following Israeli ground forces’ operations into Lebanon and Israeli jets’ aerial bombing, Iran launched missiles.
After Iran launched its first round of ballistic missiles, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the “broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation.”
“This needs to end. A ceasefire is desperately needed, Guterres declared in a statement.
Quick intensification
Israel has described it as limited thus far, but the first ground operation into Lebanon in eighteen years would match Israeli forces against Iran’s most potent armed operative in the Middle East, Hezbollah.
This is the largest flare-up of regional violence since fighting broke out in Gaza a year ago, and it comes after weeks of heavy airstrikes that have killed the majority of Hezbollah’s senior leaders, effectively beheading the organization. A million Lebanese have fled their homes and more than a thousand have died.
Even though the United States, Israel’s closest and most powerful friend, is working to control the conflict, fears are growing that Iran, which funds Hezbollah, may strike back against Israel.
In the most recent high-profile assassination of a senior Hezbollah official, Israel claimed to have killed Muhammad Jaafar Qasir, identifying him as a commander overseeing the supply of weaponry from Iran and its allies.
Hundreds have been slain in the quick escalation that has plunged Lebanon into war.
Mourners sobbed over coffins containing the black-shrouded bodies of individuals murdered in Israeli strikes near the city of Sidon, which is located near Beirut along the Mediterranean.
When the building collapsed, I was unable to defend my daughter or anybody else. Thank God, my son and I managed to escape, but not before losing my wife and daughter, my house, and my job. What words do you like me to use? “In an instant, my entire life transformed,” resident Abdulhamid Ramadan remarked.
Many Lebanese expressed their willingness to oppose Israeli forces.
“This time, Lebanon as a whole will fight, not only Hezbollah. Sidon citizen Abu Alaa stated, “All of Lebanon is determined to fight Israel for the massacres it committed in Gaza and Lebanon.”
