Israel vows retaliation after Iran launches unprecedented missile attack | Middle East and North Africa

Israel has vowed retaliation after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel, causing a dramatic escalation of a conflict that appeared to be spiraling out of control.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it,” Benjamin Netanyahu said late Tuesday at a meeting of his security cabinet. “The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”

Iran's unprecedented volley of more than 180 ballistic missiles came less than 24 hours after Israel's prime minister ordered the largest ground attack into southern Lebanon in a generation.

Guardian reporters in Jerusalem saw dozens of rockets heading toward Israel's main coastal cities in a massive attack shortly after 7:30 p.m., with the rockets' engines clearly visible from below.

Air sirens wailed across Israel as the rockets, many of which were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, streaked across the night sky in trails of red and gold. Other rockets, still intact, appeared to continue flying toward the coast and central Israel to the sound of distant explosions.

Minutes before Iran began the attack, at least two gunmen launched an attack in the Israeli coastal city of Jaffa, killing six people and wounding 10, raising further fears that the increasing spiral of violence could lead to terrorist attacks inside Israel.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of any injuries from the rocket attacks, but the Palestinian Civil Defense Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said a man was killed near Jericho and that falling rocket debris caused damage and sparked fires in the area.

Iran said it fired the rockets at three Israeli military bases in retaliation for a series of Israeli attacks in Lebanon against its proxy Hezbollah that devastated the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut as well as villages in the south of the country.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday, dealing a major blow to the militant group.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed the attack as “a decisive response to the Zionist regime's aggression,” adding: “Let Netanyahu know that Iran is not a belligerent state but stands firm against any threat…Don't be taken for granted.” Conflict with Iran.”

The order to fire missiles at Israel was given by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior Iranian officials told Reuters.

Diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict quickly failed as the attacks, which came just a week after the United States and France announced a 21-day ceasefire between the two sides, threatened to set the Middle East ablaze.

World leaders called for restraint. UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned one “escalation after another” in the region.

“This has to stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire,” he said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described the Iranian attack as serious and vowed to retaliate. The US has also warned that Iran would face consequences if it launched the attack, raising the specter of a direct confrontation between Tehran and Washington.

“We are on high alert, both defensively and offensively,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast statement before the attacks. “This attack will have consequences. We have plans and will operate wherever and whenever we decide.”

US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean have shot down several missiles fired by Iran, US defense officials said. Currently there are, among others, the USS Arleigh Burke, the USS Cole and the USS Bulkely. More destroyers are in the Red Sea.

On the edge of the old town, many stopped to watch the rockets fly overhead in a seemingly unprecedented attack, while explosions thundered staccato in the distance. Millions of Israelis were ordered to seek shelter as the country closed its airspace to civilian aircraft.

Orli Mircus, 56, a social worker and physical therapist from Tel Aviv, said she witnessed the attacks and felt “fear… great fear, especially with the explosions over our heads.”

“At that moment I wanted to know where our loved ones were,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking, I was so scared.”

“I'm worried about what's to come, I'm worried about Israel's reaction to the attack, which logically wants to defend itself, and that will provoke a further reaction, perhaps not just from Iran,” she said.

Israeli media, citing the military, said the country's air force would continue to carry out “heavy strikes” across the Middle East on Tuesday evening.

Israel had already launched attacks in three countries this week: Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

The White House had previously warned that there were “signs that Iran is preparing for an imminent ballistic missile attack” against Israel. The State Department later said there had been no warning from Tehran, although some reports suggested the Iranians had told the Russians what they were planning.

“We are actively supporting defense preparations to defend Israel against this attack,” a senior official said in a statement, warning that such an action “will have serious consequences for Iran.”

What consequences this could have remains unclear.

Oil prices rose 5% on news of Iran's missile attacks, raising the prospect of a major war between the two arch-enemies.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday when the rocket fire began, condemned the Iranian attack.

Downing Street said it reiterated to Netanyahu the UK's commitment to Israel's security and protecting civilians, but stressed the importance of seeking ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza.

On Monday, Israel began a ground assault into southern Lebanon it called “Operation Northern Arrow,” with a hail of bombs across the border.

The ground attack marks the first time Israeli troops have launched sustained operations in Lebanon since 2006, when the two countries signed a peace deal that ended a 34-day war between Israel and the Shiite militia Hezbollah, which controls much of southern Lebanon.

In the first concrete demand since the start of the military invasion, Israeli officials on Monday called on residents of about 30 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate. An Israeli military spokesman urged people to evacuate north of the Awali River, nearly 55 km from the blue line between the two countries, as the IDF targeted so-called Hezbollah “attack infrastructure” along the UN border.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with UN officials on Tuesday and said it was “one of the most dangerous periods in (Lebanon's) history”. He claimed that “about a million of our people have been displaced due to the devastating war that Israel is waging in Lebanon.”

U.S. officials have expressed cautious support for the operation, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin agreeing with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “on the need to dismantle Hezbollah's attack infrastructure along the border.”

The Israeli offensive followed a series of Israeli successes against Hezbollah that appear to have emboldened Netanyahu to act against the Iranian-backed organization despite significant diplomatic efforts to avert an escalation of the war.

Nasrallah's death followed two weeks of strikes that began with the explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members, killing dozens of people and wounding thousands more. Since then, Israel has continued to bomb Beirut and has also launched attacks on Yemen and Syria. It said it launched attacks against Iranian-backed militias across the Middle East.

Additional reporting by Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem