Iran fires missiles at Israel, Israeli military says

Washington Post

Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the country’s military said in a statement, in what Tehran said was retaliation for the killing of top figures in Hezbollah and Hamas.

Sirens could be heard across Israel as people took shelter and streaks of flame lit up the skies. Authorities have since said the attack is over.

Iran fired around 180 missiles, the Israel Defense Forces said. The U.S. put the number of missiles fired at 200. U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea took down multiple missiles launched by Iran at Israel, said U.S. defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military operation.

Most were intercepted, but there were “a few hits,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Several people were reported injured but there were no known deaths.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a news briefing Tuesday that the Biden administration is tracking the fighting in the Middle East “minute by minute,” and is having extensive communications with Israeli officials.

Iran launched “nearly 200 ballistic missiles” toward targets in Israel, Sullivan said. U.S. officials “coordinated closely” with Israel and, as a result, there have been no casualties in Israel.

Sullivan also said that the United States has not begun triggering emergency evacuations from Lebanon or the region following Iran’s recent missile launch on Israel.

“American citizens in Lebanon should follow the guidance from the State Department, which is to find civilian, commercial means to depart, because, in extremis, we may not be able to get them out safely.”

The strikes follow Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, a key Tehran ally, and the start of an Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

Hamas released a statement after the attack congratulating Iranian leadership for its “honorable” missile launches and “strong message” to the enemy.

“We express our pride in our brothers in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and our appreciation for their stand in the face of the unbridled Zionist arrogance,” read the statement.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations issued a warning shortly after the attack began.

“Should the Zionist regime dare to respond or commit further acts of malevolence, a subsequent and crushing response will ensue,” the mission said in a post on the X social media platform.

The mission said the Iranian attacks on Israel are the “legal, rational and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime.” Israel has launched a series of attacks on Iran and its interests in the region in recent months.

In July, the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran, and in the weeks since then Israel has ramped up attacks on Hezbollah, including strikes that assassinated the Lebanese militant group’s leader in Beirut last week.

Iran previously vowed to respond to the killing of Haniyeh but did not immediately act. Some analysts at the time said Iran feared that by responding to Israel, it would trigger all-out war, an eventuality that Tehran wanted to avoid.

Iranian officials said Tuesday that they are prepared for any Israeli response.

The IDF’s Hagari said the military’s defensive and offensive positions were in “high gear” and that the Iranian attack would have “consequences.”

Minutes after Israel’s Home Front Command, which issues directives for civilians, gave the all-clear for Israelis to leave their shelters, Alex Abboudi, 30, was out walking his dog and talking to his mom on the phone.

Sirens had repeatedly sounded in this west Jerusalem neighborhood, but Abboudi said he had not been too nervous.

“If I have one message for Iran,” Abboudi said as he walked on quiet streets, “it is: ‘You have to try way harder next time.’”

Parents with kids in strollers, dog walkers and commuters waiting for the bus started trickling out Tuesday night after the sirens had stopped. This part of West Jerusalem rarely gets such repeated sirens, but Rivka Hovav, 29, said she had not been too alarmed.

“We are Israeli,” Hovav said as she waited for the bus. “We are used to it. We hope we will win in this war.”

She said her brother, who is in the Israel Defense Forces, will probably be called up to the north.

“We hope he will be okay,” Hovav said. “For now, we are okay.”