“Significant escalation” by Iran. Attack on Israel 'successfully contained'

Israeli military radio reported on Tuesday around 6:30 p.m. Polish time that Iran fired nearly 200 rockets towards Israel. Alarm sirens sounded in cities across the country and residents fled to shelters, Reuters reported. “The target of Iranian attacks is approximately 10 million Israeli civilians,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

About an hour after the attack, the Israeli army said civilians could leave the shelters.

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Broadcasts from Tel Aviv showed rockets falling on the city. The sounds of missile intercepts and explosions could be heard over Jerusalem, AFP journalists reported. The Israel Defense Forces published a video on social media showing Iranian missiles over the Old City of Jerusalem.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said there were no reports of any dead or wounded. He also assessed that the attack was serious and would have consequences. He added that several rockets hit the central part of the country and the south. According to Israeli media, one person was killed in Jericho on the West Bank. He is a Palestinian worker who was hit by rocket shrapnel.

Reuters reports that some of the missiles fired by Iran towards Israel were intercepted in the airspace Jordan. Witnesses quoted by Reuters report that loud explosions were also heard in the west of the country.

Syrian military sources cited by Reuters claim that Israeli air defenses shot down dozens of Iranian missiles over southern Syria.

After the attack, traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv was suspended, and it was then announced that the airspace over Israel had been closed. It was opened several dozen minutes later.

Jordan also temporarily suspended air traffic in connection with the Iranian attack, and the Jordanian army appealed to citizens to stay at home. Iraq also closed its airspace.

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said that Tuesday's attack was a “strong response” to the “aggression of the Zionist regime”, i.e. Israel.

“In accordance with the law, a strong response was given to the aggression of the Zionist regime in order to (restore) peace and security in Iran and the entire region,” Pezeshkian wrote on Platform X. “This is only part of our possibilities. Do not enter into confrontation with Iran,” he warned.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards, one of two branches of Iran's armed forces, have warned that if Israel responds to the Iranian attack, it will be attacked again. The statement added that “the next strike will be more crushing and destructive.”

The Iranian side claims that the attack targeted three Israeli military bases, reports the ISNA news agency.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the order to attack Israel was personally given by Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme political and spiritual leader. He added that Khamenei “is in a safe place.”

“Iran's attack on Israel is a legal, rational and justified response to terrorist acts,” the Iranian delegation to the UN wrote on Tuesday on the X website. “If the Zionist regime dares to respond or commits further acts of bad faith, there will be another crushing response,” it added.

Iranian state television reported that 80 percent of the rockets fired at Israel hit their targets.

President of the USA Joe Biden in his first reaction to the Iranian attack, he stated that United States stand ready to help Israel defend itself and protect American personnel stationed in the region.

“This morning, Vice President Kamala Harris and I convened a national security team meeting to discuss Iran's plans to launch an imminent missile attack on Israel. We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks and protect American personnel in region,” Biden wrote on the X platform.

In the evening, the National Security Council announced that the president had ordered the US military to support Israel in defending against missiles fired from Iran towards the Jewish state. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are monitoring the attack from the White House command room and receiving regular updates,” council spokesman Sean Savett added in a post on X.

Biden announced at a later briefing that he would talk to the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu including how Israel might respond to Iran's move. He added that it “appears” that Tuesday's attack was ineffective.

The US national security advisor also spoke about the situation Jake Sullivan.

– We continue to cooperate with the Israeli armed forces and authorities to assess the impact of the attack, but at this time – I emphasize: at this time – we are not aware of any fatalities in Israel, we are checking reports of the death of a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank. We are not aware of any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel, Sullivan said during a White House briefing.

“In short, based on what we know at this point, the attack appears to have been successfully thwarted,” he added. Sullivan called Iran's missile attack on Israel a “significant escalation.” He did not specify what the response would be to the attack. He added that this will be the subject of talks between the Israeli and US authorities in the near future. He also said that the US does not currently intend to evacuate its citizens in Lebanon.

– Initial reports suggest that Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, successfully contained this attack. We have once again shown our commitment to the defense of Israel and we remain in very close contact with Israel, said the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder announced that the American destroyers fired several interceptor missiles during the attack. He also assessed that Iranian missiles caused “minimal damage” to Israel. All of Iran's approximately 200 ballistic missiles were to be launched from Iranian territory.

Ryder also said that he was the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin had a conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant both before and after the attack. “Secretary Austin has said that if Iran, its partners or accomplices, use this moment to attack U.S. troops or interests in the region, the United States will take all necessary actions to defend its nation,” Ryder warned.

The head of the German Foreign Ministry also strongly condemned the Iranian attack Annalena Baerbock. “We have urgently warned Iran against this dangerous escalation. Iran must stop the attack immediately. This pushes the region even further to the edge of the abyss,” she wrote in a statement.