Israel was rocked by the sound of booms and air raid sirens early Sunday as Iran launched a barrage of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in a retaliatory strike after the airstrike on the Iranian Embassy in Syria, escalating tensions within the Middle East towards a possible region-wide battle.
A army spokesperson reported over 300 launches, of which “99% were intercepted.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari hailed the operation as “a very significant strategic success,” detailing Iran’s use of 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and greater than 120 ballistic missiles. Some ballistic missiles breached Israeli defenses, inflicting minor harm to an air base.
In a tragic flip, rescuers reported a 7-year-old woman in a Bedouin Arab city critically injured, seemingly from a missile strike. Police are investigating the incident.
President Joe Biden acknowledged that U.S. forces assisted in intercepting “nearly all” of the drones and missiles, promising to rally allies for a united response.
The Iranian assault, lower than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular constructing, marked the primary time Iran has launched a direct army assault on Israel, regardless of many years of enmity relationship again to the nation’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Condemnation from the United Nations chief and others was swift, with France saying Iran “is risking a potential military escalation,” Britain calling the assault “reckless,” and Germany saying Iran and its proxies “must stop it immediately.”
Hagari stated the overwhelming majority of the intercepts got here outdoors Israel’s borders, together with 10 cruise missiles that had been intercepted by warplanes.
“A wide-scale attack by Iran is a major escalation,” he stated. Asked whether or not Israel would reply, Hagari stated solely that the military “does and will do whatever is required to protect the security of the state of Israel.” He stated the incident was not over, and dozens of Israeli warplanes remained within the skies.
Israel’s army stated its Arrow system, which shoots down ballistic missiles outdoors the ambiance, dealt with most interceptions and famous that “strategic partners” had been concerned.
“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the past week,” Biden stated in an announcement. “Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated in a separate assertion that U.S. forces “intercepted dozens of missiles and UAVs en route to Israel, launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.”
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke early Sunday, Israeli time, their governments stated. Biden stated in his assertion that he reaffirmed “America’s ironclad commitment” to Israel’s safety – a departure from his rising criticism of Israel’s conduct in its assaults in Gaza.
Iran had vowed revenge for the reason that April 1 airstrike in Syria on the Iranian Embassy, which Tehran accused Israel of being accountable for. Israel hasn’t commented on it.
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course all through Israel’s six-month carnage of the Palestinians in Gaza killing over 33,000 folks.
The newest battle erupted following Hamas’ Oct. 7 incursion, which killed 1,200 folks in Israel and kidnapped 250 others.
An Israeli offensive in Gaza has triggered widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 folks, principally ladies and youngsters, in accordance with native well being officers.
Almost instantly after the eruption, Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group in Lebanon, started attacking Israel’s northern border.
The two sides have been concerned in each day exchanges of fireplace, whereas Iranian-backed teams in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have launched rockets and missiles towards Israel.
In an announcement carried late Saturday by Iran’s state-run IRNA news company, the nation’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged launching “dozens of drones and missiles toward the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.”
In a later assertion, the Revolutionary Guard issued a direct warning to the U.S.: “The terrorist U.S. government is warned that any support or participation in harming Iran’s interests will be followed by decisive and regretting response by Iran’s armed forces.”
IRNA additionally quoted an nameless official saying ballistic missiles had been a part of the assault. A ballistic missile strikes on an arch trajectory, heading up into house earlier than gravity brings the weapon down at a pace a number of occasions quicker than the pace of sound.
Israel has a multilayered air-defense community that features programs able to intercepting quite a lot of threats, together with long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range rockets.
However, in an enormous assault involving a number of drones and missiles, the probability of a strike making it by is larger.
Iran has an enormous arsenal of drones and missiles.
Online movies shared by Iranian state tv purported to point out delta-wing-style drones resembling the Iranian Shahed-136s lengthy utilized by Russia in its struggle on Ukraine.
The slow-flying drones carry bombs. Ukraine has efficiently used each surface-to-air missiles and floor fireplace to focus on them.
Some Israelis watched the interceptions gentle up the night time sky.
Air raid sirens had been reported in quite a few locations, together with northern Israel, southern Israel, the northern West Bank, and the Dead Sea close to the Jordanian border.
Israel’s military ordered residents within the Golan Heights – close to the Syrian and Lebanese borders – in addition to the southern cities of Nevatim and Dimona and the Red Sea resort of Eilat into protecting areas. Dimona is residence to Israel’s foremost nuclear facility, and Nevatim has a significant air base. Loud booms had been heard in Jerusalem and northern and southern Israel.
The Israeli military’s Home Front Command canceled college Sunday and restricted public gatherings to not more than 1,000 folks. Israel and another nations within the area closed their airspace.
Earlier, Netanyahu warned: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them.”
In Washington, Biden convened a principals assembly of the National Security Council to debate the assault.
Gen. Erik Kurilla, the top of the U.S. army’s Central Command, was in Israel over the weekend, consulting with Israeli protection officers. The Central Command oversees U.S. forces within the Middle East.
Iran’s mission to the U.N. issued a warning to each Israel and the U.S. “Should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” it wrote on-line. “It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. MUST STAY AWAY!”
For days, Iranian officers, together with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had threatened to “slap” Israel for the Syria strike.
In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses noticed lengthy strains at fuel stations early Sunday as folks appeared fearful about what could come subsequent. Dozens of hard-liners demonstrated in help of the assault at Palestine Square.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling on a number of areas in south Lebanon following Iran’s launch of drones. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah stated it launched “dozens” of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli army web site within the Golan Heights early Sunday. It was not instantly clear if there was any harm.
Iranian missiles or drones had been intercepted within the sky above the Jordanian capital, Amman. In Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, and elsewhere within the nation, residents reported seeing missiles within the sky and listening to explosions, seemingly from interceptions. In Syria, explosions had been heard within the capital, Damascus, and elsewhere. Britain-based struggle monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrian air defenses tried to shoot down Israeli makes an attempt to intercept Iranian missiles.
Source: www.dailysabah.com