Iran launches missile attack against Israel

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

The Israeli military says Iran has launched a missile attack at Israel, as air raid sirens sounded across the country and Israelis rushed for shelter.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said there are no reports of casualties from Tuesday’s attack, and that the army does not see “any more threats in our airspace”. He said people are safe to leave the shelters in a televised press conference.

Israel’s emergency services said at least two people sustained light injuries “from shrapnel in the Tel Aviv area”.

The military had earlier warned that any ballistic missile attack from Iran was expected to be widespread and told the public to shelter in safe rooms.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the missile attack on Israel is in response to the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week, as well as that of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh earlier this year, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.

“In response to the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and [IRGC Guards commander] Nilforoshan, we targeted the heart of the occupied territories,” the IRGC said in a statement.

It said Iran had launched tens of missiles at Israel, and that if Israel retaliated, Tehran’s response would be “more crushing and ruinous”.

Iran’s state television said  80 percent of the missiles launched at Israel hit their targets.

The Israel military meanwhile, said a “large number” of missiles had been intercepted.

Speaking to reporters, Hagari said the attack was serious and will have consequences “in a timely manner”.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters news agency that the order to launch missiles at Israel was made by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei remains in a secure location, the senior official added.

The US said its forces are ready to provide “additional defensive support” to Israel after helping protect it from the Iranian missile attack.

“Our forces remain postured to provide additional defensive support and to protect US forces operating in the region” after “defending against Iranian-launched missiles targeting Israel,” a US defence official said on condition of anonymity.

The firing of missiles came after Israeli troops launched a ground raids into Lebanon, in the biggest escalation of regional warfare since fighting erupted in Gaza a year ago.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabari, reporting from the Lebanese capital Beirut, said people are celebrating.

“We’ve heard over the last 20 minutes Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel. Non stop gunfire and fireworks being set off across the capital,” Jabari said.

In neighbouring Jordan, the civil aviation authority said air traffic was temporarily suspended following the attack.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East”.

Slamming “escalation after escalation” in the region, Guterres said in a statement: “This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.”

Source

:

Al Jazeera and news agencies