The killings of militant leaders backed by Tehran last night sparked fears throughout the region and threats of retaliation, resulting in Iran firing approximately 180 missiles at Israel.
Allied or Israeli air forces stopped the majority of the missiles before they even reached Israel.
The Israeli military declared in a statement that they had launched missiles from Iran towards the State of Israel, triggering sirens across the country. The Israeli military declared the attack over an hour later, intercepting a “large number” of missiles.
Hussein Hamayel, the city’s governor, claimed that Palestinians died in Jericho “when pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him,” while Israeli medics reported that shrapnel lightly injured two people in the country’s center.
After an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that proved fatal, Iran launched its second direct attack on Israel in April using missiles and drones.
The Revolutionary Guards of Iran claimed to have struck “three military bases” in the vicinity of Tel Aviv, the commercial center of Israel, using missiles.
The attack, they claimed, was a reaction to Israel’s murder of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, last week, and the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, in a bombing in Tehran that was largely associated with Israel.
“This must stop,” stated UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement denouncing the “broadening conflict in the Middle East.” A truce is desperately needed.”
American Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to the Iranian attack as “unacceptable” and urged everyone to denounce it.
An airport authority spokesman stated that they diverted all flights and closed Israeli airspace for a few hours.
The countries that sit between Iran and Israel—Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan—also shut down their airways.
An AFP reporter reported hearing blasts over Amman, the capital of Jordan, as Israel’s allies prepared to intercept the missiles heading east towards Israel.
Jordan’s air defenses reacted in response to missiles and drones, according to reports.
According to the White House, US President Joe Biden gave the order for the military to shoot down Iranian missiles and “aid Israel’s defense.”
Although the Palestinian group Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war, which Tehran mostly abstained from attacking directly, Iran-backed groups throughout the region had already been drawn into the conflict.
