(Jerusalem) Israel and its American ally threatened to retaliate for the attack on Tuesday by Iran which fired around 180 missiles into Israeli territory to avenge the death of its allies, the leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas.
This Iranian attack, the second of its kind in nearly six months, “will have consequences. We have plans and we will act where and when we decide,” warned Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
The United States, which helped its ally to “shoot down Iranian missiles,” said it wanted to “coordinate” with the Israelis a response to Iran, their sworn enemy.
The UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East.
In the midst of an Iranian attack, interception missiles were fired by the Israeli army above Jerusalem against projectiles, visible in their luminous traces, AFP journalists noted.
PHOTO JAMAL AWAD, REUTERS
“Approximately 180 missiles were fired into Israeli territory from Iran,” and many were intercepted by the “Iron Dome” defense system.
Dozens of detonations were heard and explosions were visible in the sky. Warning sirens sounded across Israeli territory and Israeli airspace was closed during the attack.
A large number of missiles intercepted
There were two minor injuries in Israel, according to emergency services. A Palestinian was killed in Jericho in the occupied West Bank by missile fragments, according to a Palestinian official.
When the sirens stopped, hundreds of people at West Jerusalem’s central bus station took refuge in an underground parking lot. Some prayed, others checked their phones.
About an hour after the attack, the army called on the population to come out of shelters.
“About 180 missiles were fired towards Israeli territory from Iran,” and a large number were intercepted by the “Iron Dome” defense system, the army said.
Israel has proven its ability to “prevent the enemy from succeeding,” Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said.
“In response to the martyrs of Ismaïl Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan [un adjoint au chef des Gardiens]we targeted the heart of the occupied territories,” indicated the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, in reference to Israel.
They claimed to have struck “three military bases” located around Tel Aviv and threatened Israel with a “crushing response” if it attacked Iran. After the attack, Tehran International Airport suspended flights.
PHOTO AMMAR AWAD, REUTERS
A rocket flies in the sky, seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, on 1er October 2024.
“Decisive response”
The attack is a “decisive response” to Israel’s “aggression,” Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said.
Israel has been at war with Hamas in Gaza since an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. It is also fighting Lebanese Hezbollah which opened a front against Israel in support of Hamas, its ally, the following day from the start of the war.
On Friday, Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a devastating raid claimed by Israel in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Nilforoushan perished with him.
On July 31, Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, was killed in an attack while he was in Tehran. Iran and Hamas blamed Israel.
Heavy gunfire erupted in the southern suburbs of Beirut after the Iranian attack, according to Lebanese state media.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Hassan Nasrallah’s death “will not be in vain” and Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref warned it would lead to the “destruction” of Israel.
On April 13, in response to a deadly strike attributed to Israel on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Iran fired some 350 explosive drones and missiles towards Israel, the first direct attack of its kind, and which injured a Bedouin girl. Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel with the help of foreign countries, especially the United States.
Hamas hails “Iran’s heroic missile launches”.
In contrast, the European Union, Spain and Britain were condemned for the Iranian attack. UN chief Antonio Guterres has “condemned the extension of the conflict” in the Middle East.
Deadly attack in Tel Aviv
Just before the Iranian attack, six civilians were killed in an automatic weapons and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, carried out by two shooters who were “neutralized”, according to police.
PHOTO JACK GUEZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
People shelter behind vehicles under a bridge along a highway in Tel Aviv.
After the devastating blow to Hezbollah, several military leaders of which were killed by Israel, and after a week of Israeli strikes which left hundreds dead in Lebanon, Israel warned that the war was not over against the Lebanese movement.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army announced ground raids against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the mobilization of additional forces against this movement. She called on residents of 27 localities in southern Lebanon to evacuate.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, deployed on the border with Israel, nevertheless assured that it had not detected an Israeli incursion. The Lebanese army and Hezbollah have also denied such an incursion.
Ground raids “localized in Lebanon”
According to an Israeli official, these are “localized raids of a very limited scale”, aimed at “repelling threats against civilian communities in northern Israel”, bordering southern Lebanon and the target of Hezbollah fire.
PHOTO RONEN ZVULUN, REUTERS
People take shelter during an air raid siren in central Israel.
The Israeli Air Force also carried out deadly strikes near Beirut and in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah said it fired rockets towards a base near Tel Aviv (Center) and into northern Israel.
In mid-September, Israel intensified its strikes against Hezbollah, with the aim of stopping this movement’s firing towards its territory and allowing the return of tens of thousands of inhabitants to the North. More than 1,000 people have been killed since then, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.