This Tuesday, October 1, Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel in response to the assassination of its allies, the leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, the second attack of its kind in nearly six months.
Iran’s attack
“(The army’s) systems identified approximately 180 missiles fired towards Israeli territory from Iran,” the Israeli army said in a statement in the evening. Dozens of detonations were heard and explosions were visible in the sky. Warning sirens rang out across Israeli territory. Traffic was completely halted at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport and Israeli airspace closed for two hours.
There were two minor injuries in Israel, according to emergency services. A Palestinian was killed in Jericho in the occupied West Bank by missile fragments, according to a Palestinian official.
About an hour after the attack, the army indicated that there was no longer an Iranian threat “for the moment” and affirmed that the population could leave the shelters.
NEW footage by Israel’s public news channel on Iranian missiles
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 1, 2024
The defense of Israel
It was an American official who raised the alert late in the afternoon about an imminent attack by Iran. The Israeli army said it had intercepted a large number of missiles fired by Iran at the country, adding that it had detected some “impacts” during the attack. “We carried out a large number of interceptions. There were some hits in the center and others in the south of the country,” Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
US President Joe Biden ordered the US military to “help Israel defend itself” against the attack launched by Iran and to “shoot down the missiles” targeting this ally of the United States. United, said the White House.
On April 13, in response to a deadly strike attributed to Israel on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Iran fired some 350 explosive drones and missiles towards Israel, the first direct attack of its kind, and which injured a Bedouin girl. Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel with the help of foreign countries, especially the United States.
Iran’s revenge
“In response to the martyrs of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan (a deputy to the head of the Guards), we aimed at the heart of the occupied territories,” indicated the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, in reference to Israel. “We targeted three military bases around Tel Aviv” during the operation, the Guards said in a statement relayed by the ISNA agency. In a statement, they also threatened Israel, their sworn enemy, with “crushing attacks” if it responded to the missile attacks.
The Lebanese press agency reported heavy gunfire heard this Tuesday in the southern suburbs of Beirut. “Heavy machine gun fire was heard throughout the southern suburbs, to celebrate the launch of Iranian missiles into Israel,” the National News Agency (Ani) reported. An AFP correspondent also heard shots coming from the southern suburbs, stronghold of pro-Iranian Hezbollah, bombed several times since last week.
Israel has been at war with Hamas in Gaza since an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. It is also fighting Lebanese Hezbollah which opened a front against Israel in support of Hamas, its ally, the following day from the start of the war. On Friday, Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a devastating raid claimed by Israel in the southern suburbs of Beirut. On July 31, Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, was killed in an attack while he was in Tehran. Iran and Hamas blamed Israel. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Hassan Nasrallah’s death “will not be in vain” and Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref warned it would bring Israel’s “destruction.”
Israel prepares its response
“This attack will have consequences. We have plans and we will act where and when we decide,” Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari warned after the attack.
This attack by Iran comes the day Israel announced military ground operations in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.