Iran launched more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel

Israel says Iran has fired more than 180 missiles at the country in a major attack that has raised fears of a regional war.

Millions of people rushed to shelters before fireworks lit up the night sky above Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. A man was killed by debris from falling missiles in the West Bank city of Jericho, Palestinian officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had made a “big mistake” and would “pay for it”.

Iran state TV said Iran fired 200 missiles at Israel. These included hypersonic weapons, it said, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the strikes were in retaliation for the killing of leaders of its allies Hezbollah and Hamas.

Just a few hours after the massacre on Tuesday evening local time, the Israeli military resumed airstrikes against what it said were targets of Hezbollah in the south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

US President Joe Biden said Iran’s missile attack appeared to be “defeated and ineffective”. The US Department of Defense has confirmed that its forces have helped shoot down missiles in support of its Middle East alliance.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said most of the missiles were “intercepted by Israel and the defense coalition led by the United States”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called “the escalating conflict in the Middle East”, adding: “This must stop. We really need a ceasefire. “

There was support for Israel from allies including Britain, France, Japan and Australia – with UK Defense Secretary John Healey issuing a statement saying the military had “played its part in efforts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East”.

The missile attack came hours after the Israeli military launched an offensive in southern Lebanon to clear what the military said were “Hezbollah terrorist targets” in border villages that pose a threat to civilians in northern Israel.

Israel has continued to attack the Iran-backed Shia Islamist political and military group after a year of cross-border clashes sparked by the war with Hamas in Gaza, saying it wants to ensure the safe return of displaced border residents. Hezbollah rocket, drone and missile attack.

The sounds of airstrikes could be heard across Israel at around 19:30 local time (16:30 GMT) on Tuesday, as the IDF warned that missiles had been fired from Iran.

Minutes from Jerusalem, loud explosions were heard in Jerusalem as missiles flew overhead and were intercepted by Israeli air defense systems.

Videos shared on social media showed bright lights as missiles flew over Israel, and clouds of smoke as they were intercepted or detonated.

Just an hour later, the IDF announced that people were allowed to leave their protected areas because it “did not detect any aerial threats from Iran”.

Later, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement that “there were a small number of hits in central Israel, as well as some hits in Southern Israel”.

“Most of the incoming missiles were intercepted by Israel and the defense coalition led by the United States.”

He added: “The attack on Iran is a serious and dangerous escalation. There will be consequences.

“Our defense and offensive capabilities are at a high level of readiness. Our apps are ready.

“We will respond wherever, whenever, however we choose, in accordance with the order of the Israeli government.”

US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters at the White House that he was “not aware of any damage to Israeli aircraft or military equipment”.

“In short, based on what we know right now, this attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” he added.

He also condemned the attack as “a major escalation” and warned: “We have made it clear that there will be consequences, serious consequences, from this attack, and we will work with Israel to do that.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Iran’s chief of staff, Maj General Mohammad Bagheri, told state TV that it would hit Israel’s entire infrastructure if it decided to retaliate.

The violence “will be repeated with great force and the entire infrastructure of the state will be targeted,” Mr Bagheri said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said it was targeting unspecified “critical security and military” facilities in retaliation for “the violation of Iran’s sovereignty and the martyrdom” of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that Iranian officials said. He was accused in Israel, but the officials of Israel did not say.

The statement described the missile blast as “in line with the nation’s legitimate right to self-defense”.

It also said the attack was in response to an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Brig-Gen Abbas Nilforoushan, commander of the IRGC’s overseas operations, the Quds Force.

Later, Iranian state media said the missiles hit the Nevatim, Hazterim and Tel Nof air bases, as well as Israeli tanks in Netzarim – a reference to the Israeli military tunnel in central Gaza – and a gas installation in the southern city of Israel Ashkelon.

The attack came less than an hour after a senior White House official told reporters that the US had indications that Iran was preparing to fire missiles at Iran.

In April, Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for a deadly strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria that killed several top officials.

Almost all of them were shot down by the Israelis, the US and other Western allies and their Arab allies, and an air base in southern Israel received little damage when hit.

Israel responded by firing a missile that hit an Iranian Western air base in a self-defeating attack.

On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had promised that the death of his close colleague Hassan Nasrallah “will not go unavenged”.

He did not give details, but said: “The fate of this region will be decided by the opposition forces, Hezbollah is at the forefront.”

Iran has built a network of allied armed groups in the Middle East, all of which oppose the US and Israel and sometimes call themselves the “Axis of Resistance”. Besides Hezbollah, they include Hamas in the Palestinian territories, the Houthis in Yemen, and a number of Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.