Israel has vowed revenge after Iran launched a wave of ballistic missiles across the country in a major escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
A salvo of around 200 ballistic missiles were fired by Tehran less than 24 hours after the Israeli military launched a ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Millions of people rushed into shelters while outside hundreds of flashes could be seen over the cities of Tel Aviv, Ashdod and Jerusalem as the Iron Dome system intercepted most of the rockets.
The Revolutionary Guards said the attack was in response to the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week. “If [Israel] reacts to Iranian operations,” they warned, “it will face crushing attacks”. The group said it used its hypersonic Fattah missiles, the first time they have been used against Israel.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had “made a big mistake… and will pay for it”, with both US president Joe Biden and Sir Keir Starmer voicing support for the Israel.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned of “severe consequences” after the “significant escalation”.
Just before the missile assault on Israel six people were killed in a suspected terror attack in Tel Aviv. Police said two suspects opened fire on a boulevard in the Jaffa neighbourhood before being shot dead.
As the Iranian missiles were launched, Mr Netanyahu was rushed into a security meeting in a secure bunker near Jerusalem to plan a response to the massive onslaught, officials said.
In a televised message, Mr Netanyahu later told his nation: “Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it.
“The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”
Israel Defence Forces spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the attack had resulted in a “small number of hits”, with the majority of missiles intercepted.
“We will respond wherever, whenever, and however we choose, in accordance with the directive of the government of Israel,” he said.
The attack left the prospect of a direct war between Israel and Iran, with the two countries having fought a shadow war for years. On Tuesday night, Sir Keir said he was “deeply concerned” that the Middle East was “on the brink”.
In a televised statement from Downing Street, the prime minister said Tehran had “menaced the Middle East for far too long” and called on the country to “stop these attacks”.
“We stand with Israel and we recognise her right to self-defence in the face of this aggression,” he said.
Mr Biden told reporters that the Iranian attack had apepared to have been “defeated and ineffective”.
“Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel,” Mr Biden said. US officials revealed that US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean had destroyed several Iranian missiles.
UK forces had also “played their part” in attempts to prevent further violence, UK defence sectretary John Healey said.
Images that emerged from the attack on Israel showed parents clinging onto their children as they huddled in bomb shelters across Israel. Other images showed civilians crying as they fled from the orange flashes of air defences colliding with the Iranian missiles overhead.
