Video: Iran Attacks Israel With Hundreds Of Drones And Missiles, Risking Major Escalation In Middle East

Risking a major escalation in the Middle East, Iran has launched a swarm of explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel in its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, prompting the UN Security Council call to convene an emergency meeting on Sunday.

Israel’s military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Saturday said Iran launched dozens of ground-to-ground missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted outside Israeli borders. Dozens of surface-to-surface missile launches from Iran were identified as approaching Israeli territory, IDF said.

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200 drones and missiles

The Iranian missiles amounted to more than 200 drones and missiles so far, Hagari said and had caused light damage to one Israeli military facility. The Israeli military said later that it was not advising any residents to prepare to take shelter, revising an earlier alert in what appeared to signal the end of the threat. Israel’s Channel 12 TV cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying there would be a “significant response” to the attack.

Iran’s retaliation

Iran has promised retaliation for what it called an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April crimes”. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the consulate attack.

“Should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” the Iranian mission to the United Nations said, warning the 1 that killed seven Guards officers including two senior commanders and said its strike was a punishment for “Israeli U.S. to “stay away”. However, it also said Iran now “deemed the matter concluded”.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Iran’s attack, and said he was “deeply alarmed about the very real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation.”

U.S. President Joe Biden, who on Friday had warned Iran against an attack, cut short a visit to his home state of Delaware to meet national security advisers in the White House Situation Room. He pledged to stand with Israel. “Our commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” he said on X after the meeting. “I just met with my national security team for an update on Iran’s attacks against Israel. Our commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Biden said.

Gaza War

The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, now in its seventh month, has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq. British maritime security company Ambrey said in a statement that drones were also reportedly launched against Israel by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group.

Those clashes now threaten to morph into a direct open conflict pitting Iran and its regional allies against Israel and its main supporter the United States, with regional power Egypt urging “utmost restraint”. While Israel and Iran have been bitter foes for decades, their long feud has mostly unfolded via proxies or by targeting each other’s forces operating in third countries.

War cabinet

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose official jet took off shortly after the attack began, convened the war cabinet at a military headquarters in Tel Aviv, his office said. Israel and Lebanon said they were closing their airspace on Saturday night. Jordan, which lies between Iran and Israel, had readied air defences to intercept any drone or missile that violated its territory, two regional security sources said.

Residents in several Jordanian cities said they heard heavy aerial activity. Syria, an ally of Iran, said it was putting its ground-to-air defence systems around the capital and major bases on high alert, army sources there said. The European Union, Britain, France, Mexico, Czechia, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands all condemned Iran’s attack.

Israel has been bracing for an Iranian response to the Damascus consulate strike since last week, when Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel “must be punished and shall be” for an operation he called equivalent to one on Iranian soil. Biden said on Friday that his only message to Iran was “Don’t”, but added that “we are devoted to the defence of Israel.”

(With agency inputs)