Iran said it launched a barrage of missiles at Israel in response to the assassinations of senior Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian officials, sending Israelis rushing to bomb shelters and raising fears of all-out war in the region.
Alarms sounded across Israel and explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the attack late on Tuesday.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said there were no reports of casualties and that the army does not see “any more threats in our airspace”. He said in a video message that people in Israel were safe to leave shelters.
Israel’s emergency services said at least two people sustained light injuries “from shrapnel in the Tel Aviv area”.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing the civil defence, said a 38-year-old Palestinian man died from shrapnel wounds in Jericho in the eastern occupied West Bank.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the missile attack on Israel was a response to the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and the IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan last week, as well as that of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh earlier this year, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
“In response to the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Nilforoushan, we targeted the heart of the occupied territories,” the IRGC said in a statement.
It said its missile attack targeted “three military bases” in the Tel Aviv area.
Earlier, the IRGC said it launched tens of missiles at Israel, and that if Israel retaliated, Tehran’s response would be “more crushing and ruinous”.
Iran’s state television said 80 per cent of the missiles launched at Israel hit their targets.
The Israel military, meanwhile, said a “large number” of missiles had been intercepted.
Speaking to reporters, Hagari said the attack was serious and would have consequences “in a timely manner”.
A senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that the order to launch missiles at Israel was made by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei remains in a secure location, the senior official added.
The United States said its forces were ready to provide “additional defensive support” to Israel after helping protect it from the Iranian missile attack.
“Our forces remain postured to provide additional defensive support and to protect US forces operating in the region” after “defending against Iranian-launched missiles targeting Israel”, a US defence official said on condition of anonymity. (Aljazeera)
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