Just before 2 a.m. local time, air raid alarms wailed across Israel. This included detonations from air defense systems that shot down attack drones and robots sent by Iran against Israeli targets.
Over 300 drones and missiles have been sent against Israel, Daniel Hagari stated in a televised update at 7 a.m. local time on Sunday morning, according to, among others British BBC. He claims that several of them were also fired from Iraq and Yemen and that 99 percent were shot down, most of them outside Israeli airspace.
The Israeli military claims that 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles have been fired at the country.
American and British military aircraft participated in the defense.
“We helped Israel shoot down almost all incoming drones and robots,” announced President Joe Biden, according to TT.
Some of the goals targets of the attacks are in the Golan Heights and a military base in the Negev desert, according to the Israeli military.
The attack lasted about five hours and is said to have subsided, two US officials said for CNN. A seven-year-old girl is said to have been injured, according to the American TV channel, but also other media. Daniel Hagari mentions an injured girl in the statement.
Minor damage is said to have been caused to a military base in the south of the country, he states.
At half past eight local time on Sunday morning, the Israeli airspace was opened again, the newspaper writes. Reuters states that Jordan also opened its airspace on Sunday morning.
It’s first the time Iran attacks Israel from its territory.
“The whole world saw what Iran is last night: A terrorist state that attacks the State of Israel from a distance of 1,500 kilometers and tries to activate all its proxies,” said Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a statement on Sunday morning, reports Haaretz.
He states that the attack is not over, according to TT.
The attack on Israel has been preceded by several Iranian threats in recent times and the regime in Tehran is justifying it as retaliation for Israel’s deadly attack on the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus in early April.
Iran and Israel have been in conflict with each other for decades and both countries have a history of attacking the interests of the opponent, not infrequently via proxy. But the latest attack is the very first that Iran has carried out against Israel from its territory. According to several experts, a new stage in the rivalry is now being marked, where the conflict is being brought into the open.
“Iran and Israel are taking the region into uncharted waters. It is difficult to overestimate how dangerous this moment is and how catastrophic the consequences could turn out to be,” Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think tank told the New York Times.
Israel sent up dozens of aircraft in the air, with the task of meeting Iranian attacks. Neighboring countries Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon closed their airspace.
Around 5 a.m. Swedish time, Israel’s military leadership is holding a meeting to decide how to respond to Iran’s attack, according to a spokesperson. No decision on retaliation has been taken, an official told the Times of Israel.
During the night, Israel attacked the Iran-linked Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon, in response to about 40 rockets being fired at northern Israel during the night, writes the Times of Israel.
Iran warns it will respond to Israeli retaliation, writes CNN.
USA:s president Joe Biden, who canceled his weekend leave early, had discussions with his security advisers in the White House on Saturday night. IN a statement he calls US support for Israel’s security “unwavering”.
“The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran,” Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, said in a statement.
However, the United States will not participate in any attacks against Iran, according to a senior American official for CNN.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the US will not hesitate to support the defense of Israel and calls on Iran to immediately desist from further attacks, including those by its allies, writes the BBC.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a military organization subordinate to the country’s religious leadership, warns the US that any action against Iran will be met with a “mutual” response.
A number of heads of state condemn Iran’s attack and Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock says in a statement that the attack risks plunging the entire region into chaos.
The region is on the brink of a war no one wants, says Middle East expert Jonathan Panikoff at the Atlantic Council think tank.
I an analysis he states that it all depends on how the attack will be answered. Widespread destruction and many deaths could force Israel to escalate the counterattack.
“This is the beginning of a new one eras in which Iran is willing to respond directly to Israeli attacks and thereby risk retaliation against Iran’s homeland,” writes Jonathan Panikoff.
The markets have recently, in line with rising concerns about the escalating conflict, traded up the price of oil. Earlier this week, experts warned that the oil price may pass 100 dollars about Iran would attack Israel.
On Friday, Brent oil cost 91,56 dollar per fat and WTI oil $87.05, the highest price quotes in almost 7 months.
