Iran launched a massive aerial assault on Israel on Saturday night, deploying over 300 drones and missiles in retaliation for a lethal Israeli airstrike in Syria a fortnight earlier, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing hostilities between the two regional adversaries.
The strikes inflicted minor damage on a single Israeli military base, with most of the airborne threats intercepted, according to Israeli military sources. The United States claimed it assisted in downing numerous drones and missiles.
Nevertheless, the extensive assault, targeting locations within Israel and its controlled territory, heralded a precarious new phase in the protracted covert conflict between Iran and Israel.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, via a statement aired on state television, announced the launch of “dozens of drones and missiles” from Iran towards Israel “in response to the Zionist regime’s crimes.” Subsequently, via social media, they asserted hitting military targets within Israel, cautioned the United States against involvement, and issued threats of further strikes in case of attacks on Iran or its interests.
A hospital spokesperson, Inbar Gutter, disclosed that a total of 12 individuals were admitted to the Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel overnight.
Among the targeted areas was the Golan Heights, a strategically vital region bordering Syria that Israel annexed almost six decades ago. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia, claimed responsibility for firing numerous rockets at an Israeli barracks there, though it remained unclear if this barrage was part of the broader Iranian assault.
In the aftermath of the attacks, while Iranians in Tehran gathered to celebrate, air-raid sirens reverberated across extensive areas of southern Israel, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. The Israeli government issued warnings regarding potential missile strikes in the Negev Desert, where several military installations are situated. Moreover, the airspaces of Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon were shut down.
President Biden curtailed a weekend at his Delaware vacation residence to confer with his national security advisors. He also held discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The President of the United Nations Security Council announced an emergency session scheduled for 4 p.m. on Sunday to address Iran’s assaults on Israel, following a request by Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan.
