Iran launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night time in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike in Damascus that killed a number of Iranian commanders, pushing the Center East nearer to a full-blown regional conflict.
Israeli officers stated Iran had fired greater than 300 projectiles, together with 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles at Israel, the primary time that it had focused the Jewish state instantly. Iran-backed militants in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen additionally fired rockets, drones and missiles at Israel.
Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for Israel’s navy, stated 99 per cent of the barrage had been intercepted. A Bedouin woman was critically injured by shrapnel within the south of the nation and an air power base suffered minor injury, however there have been no different studies of significant impacts, he stated.
At 7.30am native time, Israel reopened its airspace, which it had closed forward of the Iranian salvo. However it stored in place orders closing faculties and limiting giant gatherings, and Hagari stated that the nation remained “prepared and ready for added threats and eventualities”.
US President Joe Biden condemned the “unprecedented” assault, and stated that US plane and two US destroyers, one in every of which Washington moved to the area over the previous week, had helped intercept the barrage. The UK and France additionally helped keep off the assault.
Biden stated he would convene different G7 leaders on Sunday “to co-ordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen assault”. Following a request from Israel, the UN Safety Council additionally scheduled an emergency assembly for Sunday to debate the assault.
The UK deployed RAF jets and refuelling tankers to the Center East on Saturday to assist intercept drone assaults. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated: “I condemn within the strongest phrases the Iranian regime’s reckless assault towards Israel . . . The UK will proceed to face up for Israel’s safety.”
Iran stated it launched the barrage in response to Israel’s suspected strike on its consulate in Damascus on April 1, which marked a big escalation of the hostilities which have engulfed the Center East because the conflict between Hamas and Israel erupted in October.
Previously six months Israeli forces have traded near-daily hearth with Hizbollah in Lebanon, whereas different Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have additionally fired missiles and drones at Israel.
However till now, Iran and Israel have averted a direct confrontation. Regardless of their lengthy historical past of enmity, the 2 nations have by no means exchanged hearth utilizing strikes launched from their very own soil. Solely as soon as earlier than — in 2018 — did Iranian forces primarily based in Syria hearth on Israel instantly.
Iranian officers stated the barrage had been launched in defence of Iran’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”, and that the assault, which concerned “dozens” of missiles and drones, had focused Israeli navy bases.
Tasnim information company, which is affiliated to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, described the assault as a “multi-layered assault from 4 instructions”, deploying “a whole bunch of drones and a lot of missiles of various varieties”.
It added that Hizbollah, Iraqi militants and Houthi rebels in Yemen had all participated within the assault. Hizbollah stated it had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli barracks within the Golan Heights.
Within the wake of the barrage, Iran’s mission to the UN stated on social media platform X that “the matter might be deemed concluded”. However it added that ought to Israel “make one other mistake, Iran’s response might be significantly extra extreme” and warned the US to “keep away”.
The strike sparked condemnation from world wide, with nations from Japan to Saudi Arabia urging restraint, and UN secretary-general António Guterres saying he was “deeply alarmed in regards to the very actual hazard of a devastating region-wide escalation”.
The Iranian assault “places the area on the precipice of a broader regional conflict that nearly nobody appears to really need”, stated Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Atlantic council’s Scowcroft Center East Safety Initiative.
Iran’s first direct assault on Israel “shatters the earlier battle threshold” of their long-running conflict, he stated. “What is obvious is that that is the start of a brand new period, one through which Iran is keen to reply on to Israeli assaults and in doing so danger retaliation towards the Iranian homeland.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken stated that the US did “not search escalation” and would maintain talks with its allies within the “hours and days forward”.
Israel had been bracing for an Iranian response since Tehran made clear that they thought of the strike on the consulate in Damascus, which killed one in every of Iran’s most senior commanders in Syria and Lebanon, tantamount to an assault on its territory.
Late on Saturday the Israeli navy introduced a 1,000-person restrict on public gatherings and shuttered faculties, and ordered folks within the occupied Golan Heights within the north of the nation, and several other areas within the south, to stay near shelters.
Shortly after 11pm, Israel confirmed that Iran had launched its barrage, and
simply earlier than 2am sirens went off in Jerusalem, throughout southern and northern Israel and within the Golan Heights. Skies over Israel have been lit up by incoming missiles and Israeli air defence interceptors.
In a recorded assertion earlier on Saturday Netanyahu stated he appreciated the US “standing by Israel’s aspect”, and the help of the UK, France and different nations.
The long-serving premier additionally issued a direct menace to Iran. “I established a transparent precept — whoever hurts us, we damage him. We’ll defend ourselves from any menace and we are going to accomplish that with composure and dedication,” he stated.
Further reporting by Lauren Fedor in Dallas and Anna Gross in London
