- Iran has launched a missile attack on Israel.
- Tehran said the attack is retaliation for the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
- The US has said it is ready to defend Israel from an Iranian attack, as it did in April.
Iran launched a massive attack on Israel on Tuesday as tensions soar and violence further grips the volatile Middle East.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Telegram that “a short while ago, missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel.” On other social media pages, it said that “all Israeli civilians are in bomb shelters as rockets from Iran are fired at Israel.”
“The air defense system is fully operational, detecting and intercepting threats wherever necessary, even at this moment,” the IDF said. Air raid sirens could be heard across the country.
Video footage showed Israeli air defenses intercepting Iranian missiles over Jerusalem. Other footage has shown incoming missiles impacting Israel. Tehran reportedly fired some 200 missiles in the barrage.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked Israel in response to the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, according to Tasnim, a news agency linked to the IRGC.
Iran had vowed to retaliate against Israel after Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas’ political wing, was assassinated in Tehran in July. Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday.
The Iranian attack also comes just hours after the Israeli military announced the start of a “limited” ground operation inside Lebanon.
The IDF issued a statement shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time that said people were allowed to leave their bomb shelters, indicating that the missile attack was over for the time being.
Earlier on Tuesday, a White House official said the US had indications that Iran was preparing to “imminently” launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel.
“We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack. A direct military attack from Iran against Israel will carry severe consequences for Iran,” the official said.
The US military has a wide range of assets in position around the Middle East and in the Eastern Mediterranean that can protect Israel, as American forces did in April when Iran launched a massive retaliatory missile and drone attack on the country.
The US now has more assets positioned in the region than it did at that time. It is unclear how many Iranian projectiles American forces shot down on Tuesday.
The US has repeatedly said that it is ready to defend Israel again and protect its own forces in the region from any attack by Iran or its regional proxies. As it has stepped up its force presence, Washington has also tried to contain rising tensions and conflicts in the Middle East to prevent them from escalating, but it has been unable to do so.
Speaking at the United Nations on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to Iran that any direct attack by the country would be met with a response. After the unprecedented April bombardment, Israel then struck Iran directly.
“If you strike us, we will strike you,” he said, adding that there’s no place in Iran where “the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that’s true of the entire Middle East.”
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