(Washington) L’Iran a tiré mardi des missiles sur Israël où les sirènes d’alerte ont retenti dans l’ensemble du territoire, après que l’armée a appelé la population à se préparer à une attaque « à grande échelle ».
À Téhéran, l’agence de presse officielle IRNA a annoncé des tirs par l’Iran de « missiles sur Tel-Aviv », sans aucune autre précision.
Des missiles d’interception ont été tirés par l’armée israélienne au-dessus de Jérusalem contre des projectiles venant de l’est visibles à leurs traces lumineuses, ont constaté des journalistes de l’AFP.
PHOTO AMMAR AWAD, REUTERS
Une roquette vole dans le ciel, vue de Tel-Aviv, en Israël, le 1er octobre 2024.
L’attaque de missiles lancée par l’Iran contre Israël est une réponse aux assassinats des chefs du Hamas et du Hezbollah, ont affirmé mardi les Gardiens de la révolution.
« En réponse aux martyrs d’Ismaïl Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah et Abbas Nilforoushan [adjoint au chef des Gardiens]we aimed at the heart of the occupied territories [Israël] “, said in a statement the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, which also threatened “crushing attacks” if Israel responded to the missile attacks.
Dozens of detonations were heard and explosions were visible in the sky. Warning sirens rang out across the territory. Traffic was completely halted at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
PHOTO JACK GUEZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
People shelter behind vehicles under a bridge along a highway in Tel Aviv.
Israeli airspace was closed Tuesday evening and flights were diverted, an airport authority spokesman said, as warning sirens sounded across the country after the launch of a missile attack by Iran.
The Iranian attack came the day Israel announced ground military operations in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah, an ally of Israel’s archenemy Iran, and four days after the assassination of the movement’s leader Lebanese Hassan Nasrallah, in an Israeli raid near Beirut.
Hours earlier, a U.S. official said Iran was preparing to carry out an imminent ballistic missile attack on Israel.
PHOTO RONEN ZVULUN, REUTERS
People take shelter during an air raid siren in central Israel.
“The United States has indications that Iran is preparing to launch an imminent ballistic missile attack” against Israel, he told AFP. Such an attack would “result in serious consequences” for Iran.
“The shots coming from Iran could be on a large scale,” Daniel Hagari, the army spokesperson, had previously warned. In the event of an attack, the army “is ready to defend itself and attack,” he said.
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.