TEL AVIV — Israel is vowing that Iran will face “consequences” for a barrage of about 200 missiles that it fired at Israel on Tuesday — but said that joint air defenses with the United States had been largely effective in intercepting the attack.
The promise of retaliation from Israel raises the danger of a heightened cycle of violence, just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is escalating his rhetoric against Tehran and threatening to undermine the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership in what looks like a bid to reshape the balance of power in the Middle East.
Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said some Iranian missiles had landed in central and southern Israel, but added the authorities were still assessing the full impact of the assault and called on citizens not to let the enemy know about targets hit in the meantime.
He insisted Israel would strike back at “the time and place of our choosing.”
In more general terms, Hagari said the Israeli military would continue to “strike powerfully” in the region overnight, just as it has done for the past year, in what sounded like a reference to pressing ahead with an offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi promised the response would come as a shock to Tehran. “We will choose when to exact the price, and prove our precise and surprising attack capabilities, in accordance with the guidance of the political echelon,” he said.
All in all, casualties from the waves of Iranian missiles appeared to be low, just like after an earlier attack in April. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said American destroyers joined IDF air defenses in downing incoming missiles, in an operation monitored by U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Israeli authorities said a Palestinian was killed by shrapnel near the city of Jericho in the West Bank from fragments of an intercepted rocket and that two people were lightly wounded by missiles shards in Tel Aviv. There were unconfirmed reports of a direct hit on a building in Tel Aviv, injuring another three people.
Sullivan said the U.S. was unaware of any deaths or damage to aircraft or strategic military facilities in Israel, based on early assessments. “In short, based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” he added.
That would make Tuesday’s attack less deadly than two militant gunmen who opened fire shortly beforehand at a light railway stop in Jaffa in central Israel, killing eight. The gunmen were “neutralized” by Israeli police.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched the attack in response to Israel’s assassination last week of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
“If the Zionist regime responds to Iran’s operations, it will face devastating attacks,” the Guards said in a statement. The corps said they fired more than 200 missiles, while Israel put the number at 180.
Iran’s Mission to the UN insisted the missile attack was “legal, rational and legitimate.” In a statement on X, it also warned of a “crushing response,” if the Israelis “commit further acts of malevolence.”
In the southern Hezbollah-stronghold suburbs of Beirut, the Shiite militant group’s supporters fired celebratory gunfire from their AK-47s, Lebanese state media reported.
There were also Israeli media reports, as yet unconfirmed, of rockets not being intercepted and striking property in Tel Sheva, Dimona, Nabatim, Hora, Hod Hasharon, Be’er Sheva, and Rishon Lezion.
Iran’s attack had been expected, with the Israeli military urging people to heed sirens and make for shelters.
In April, Iran set over mainly drones; this time, however, it fired ballistic missiles, which take only 12 minutes when launched to reach Israel. In a bid to beat Israel’s “Iron Dome” anti-missile defenses on Tuesday, Iran said it had used its “Fattah” hypersonic missiles for the first time.
Earlier, U.S. officials publicly warned that Iran was preparing to fire missiles — prompting Israeli authorities to order beaches to be shut and for group activities to be reduced.
In Tel Aviv, people made beelines for shelters as soon as the alarms sounded — something they don’t always do, having become accustomed to daily threats. With the city set to observe the Jewish New Year on Wednesday, many businesses and restaurants had already shuttered for the holiday and the city center was much quieter than usual.
Netanyahu also echoed the warnings, releasing a statement calling on the Israeli people to “stand steadfast in the trying days ahead.”
In a video, he said: “Together we will stand. Together we will fight and together we will win.” Netanyahu added that Israel was “in the midst of a campaign against Iran’s axis of evil.”
Israel’s response to April’s drone-heavy assault by Iran was measured. It limited its reaction to a drone attack on air defenses protecting a military base near the city of Isfahan, where F-14 Tomcat aircraft are stationed, but was probably also issuing a veiled warning that Iran’s nuclear facilities nearby were vulnerable.
This time Israel may retaliate more belligerently, rising to Netanyahu’s more recent strongly worded threats against Iran.
Naomi, a hostess at a hotel restaurant near the seafront, had no doubt about whether Israeli should retaliate. “Good,” she said of Tuesday onslaught from Iran. “Now we can hit them.”
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