Iran launches hundreds of missiles, drones in first direct attack on ...

Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in its first direct attack on Israeli territory, in a retaliatory assault that wounded a seven-year-old girl and caused minor damage at an Israeli military facility.

The attack late on Saturday night set off air raid sirens in cities across Israel, including in Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem, and explosions were heard as Israeli air defences intercepted the projectiles.

The Israeli military said the Iranian salvo consisted of more than 300 “killer drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles”, but that 99 percent were intercepted, with help from forces from the France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The launches came from Iran, as well as from Iraq and Yemen, it said.

Medics said a girl in southern Israel was wounded by shrapnel from an intercepted drone, while the military said “a small number of hits were identified, including at an [Israeli military] base in southern Israel, where minor damage was caused to infrastructure”.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) confirmed the attack, saying it launched the drones and missiles under the operation “True Promise” as part of the punishment for “the Zionist entity’s crime of targeting the Iranian consulate in Syria” on April 1.

The raid in Damascus killed 12 people, including two senior generals in the IRGC’s elite Quds force.

An ambulance is parked outside the Iranian embassy in Damascus after an Israeli strike on April 1, 2024 [File: Firas Makdesi/Reuters]

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the consulate attack.

With the missiles and drone attack, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said it now deemed the matter “concluded” and warned the Israel of a “considerably more severe” response should the “Israeli regime make another mistake”.

It also warned the US to stay out of the conflict.

Fears of a wider escalation

The escalation comes six months into Israel’s war on Gaza, which has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq.

Ahead of the Iranian response, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon announced temporarily closing their airspace, while Syria also put on high alert its Russian-made Pantsir ground-to-air defence systems around Damascus and major bases, according to the Reuters news agency.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian armed forces seized a container ship linked to Israel near the Strait of Hormuz.

Western countries condemned Iran’s missiles and drones assault, including the US, UK, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Mexico, the Netherlands and Norway. Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for restraint, while the UN Security Council scheduled an emergency session to discuss the matter, at Israel’s request.

US President Joe Biden cut short a weekend stay at his Delaware beach house to meet with his national security team at the White House on Saturday afternoon. He also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late on Saturday, reaffirming Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to its ally’s security.

Biden said he told Netanyahu that “Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel”.

The Israeli prime minister, in a brief post on X, said Israel will achieve victory.

“We intercepted, we repelled, together we shall win,” he added.

The Pentagon meanwhile reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken with his Israeli counterpart “to discuss urgent regional threats … and made clear that Israel could count on full US support to defend Israel against any attacks by Iran and its regional proxies”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Iran’s attack, saying he was “deeply alarmed about the very real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation”.

Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said on the Telegram social media app that in addition to a letter from Israel, the Security Council had received one from Iran asserting its attack was within the UN Charter framework governing the right to self-defence.

“The latter warns that if Israel responds, Iran will respond in a more powerful and decisive manner,” Polyanskiy said.

China’s foreign ministry called on all parties to “exercise calm and restraint”, describing the situation as the “latest spillover of the Gaza conflict”. It said it was deeply concerned by the escalation and said Israel’s war on Gaza “must end now”.

Analysts described Iran’s attack on Israel as carefully calibrated to prevent further escalation.

“What the Iranians are trying to do is to come up with a measured, calculated attack in order to regain deterrence and not to be seen as weak in front of their own proxies,” said Hassan Barari, professor of international relations at the University of Qatar.

However, he expressed worry that the attack could worsen the situation in Gaza.

“I know some right-wing politicians in the government will see this as an opportunity because the world’s attention has shifted onto Iran-Israel and then they can do something probably horrendous in Gaza,” he said.