Middle East
Bedouin Arab town was seriously wounded in southern Israel, apparently in a missile strike, though they said police were still investigating the circumstances of her injuries. Hagari said a missile struck an army base, causing light damage but no injuries.
“A wide-scale attack by Iran is a major escalation,” he said.
Asked whether Israel would respond, Hagari said only that the army “does and will do whatever is required to protect the security of the state of Israel.” He said the attack was not over, and dozens of Israeli warplanes remained in the skies.
U.S. forces downed some of the Iranian-launched drones flying toward Israel, according to a U.S. defense official and two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. Israel's military said its Arrow system, which shoots down ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere, handled most interceptions and noted that “strategic partners” were involved.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he was speaking to U.S. President Joe Biden early today. No details on their conversation were immediately made public. But Biden has said his commitment to Israel's security is “ironclad” in the face of Iranian threats, a departure from his harsh criticism over Israel's handling of the war in Gaza.
Iran had vowed revenge since an April 1 airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals inside an Iranian consular building. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack. Israel hasn't commented on it.
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel's sixmonth war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 people, according to local health officials.
Almost immediately after the war erupted, Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, began attacking Israel's northern border. The two sides have been involved in daily exchanges of fire, while Iranianbacked groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have launched rockets and missiles toward Israel.
In a statement carried late Saturday by Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged launching “dozens of drones and missiles towards the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.”
In a later statement, the Revolutionary Guard issued a direct warning to the U.S.: “The terrorist U.S. government is warned any support or participation in harming Iran's interests will be followed by decisive and regretting response by Iran's armed forces.”
IRNA also quoted an anonymous official saying ballistic missiles were part of the attack. A ballistic missile moves on an arch trajectory, heading up into space before gravity brings the weapon down at a speed several times faster than the speed of sound.
Israel has missile defense systems capable of targeting ballistic missiles. However, in a massive attack involving multiple drones and missiles, the likelihood of a strike making it through is higher.
Iran has a vast arsenal of drones and missiles. Online
videos shared by Iranian state television purported to show delta-wingstyle drones resembling the Iranian Shahed-136s long used by Russia in its war on Ukraine. The slowflying drones carry bombs. Ukraine has successfully used both surface-to-air missiles and ground fire to target them.
Israel has a multilayered air-defense network that includes systems capable of intercepting a variety of threats, including long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and shortrange rockets.
Hagari, the army spokesman, said Israel was “prepared and ready.” But he cautioned that the air defenses are not 100% effective and urged the public to heed safety instructions.
The army ordered residents in the Golan Heights — near the Syrian and Lebanese borders — as well as the southern towns of Nevatim and Dimona and the
Red Sea resort of Eilat “to stay near protective spaces until further notice.” Dimona is home to Israel's main nuclear facility, and Nevatim has a major air base.
The army's Home Front Command canceled school today and limited public gatherings to no more than 1,000 people. Israel closed its airspace and canceled all flights.
Earlier, Netanyahu warned: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them.”
In Washington, President Joe Biden cut short a weekend trip to his beach house in Delaware to return to the White House. He convened a principals meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the attack.
“The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, was in Israel over the weekend consulting with Israeli defense officials about the Iranian threat. The Central Command oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Iran's mission to the United Nations issued a warning to both Israel and the U.S. “Should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran's response will be considerably more severe,” it wrote online. “It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. MUST STAY AWAY!”
For days, Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had threatened to “slap” Israel for its Syria strike.
In Iran's capital, Tehran, witnesses saw long lines at gas stations early Sunday as people appeared worried about what may come next. Dozens of hard-liners demonstrated in support of the attack at Palestine Square.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling on locations in south Lebanon following Iran's launch of drones. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched “dozens” of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military site in the Golan Heights early today. It was not immediately clear if there was any damage.
Iranian missiles or drones were intercepted in the sky above the Jordanian capital, Amman. In Lebanon's capital, Beirut, and elsewhere in the country, residents reported seeing missiles in the sky and hearing explosions, likely from interceptions. In Syria, explosions were heard in the capital, Damascus, and elsewhere. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrian air defenses tried to shoot down Israeli attempts to intercept Iranian missiles.