(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and suicide drones against several military positions in Israel in retaliation for Tel Aviv’s aerial attack on its embassy in Damascus, Syria, which resulted in the deaths of three of its generals.
This marks the first instance in history that Iran has directly targeted Israel, likely escalating conflicts in the Middle East involving other regional and major powers.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – the most powerful branch of its armed forces – said it had launched the attack “in retaliation against the Zionist regime’s [Israel] repeated crimes, including the attack on the Iranian embassy’s consulate in Damascus”.
Israel’s military spokesperson, Brigadier General Hagari, confirmed the missile and drone attacks on various locations including the Negev Desert, which hosts a major Israeli airbase.
“Tonight’s wide-scale attack by Iran is a major escalation,” said Hagari.
“Together with our allies and partners, we are operating at full force to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel.”
Social media videos indicate that these missiles struck what are claimed to be Israeli military bases within the country.
To date, Tel Aviv has not fully disclosed the impact on its military infrastructure from these attacks.
Israel estimates the attack comprised about 200 suicide drones and missiles.
Israeli residents reported hearing repeated explosions, possibly from the Iron Dome air defense system intercepting Iranian missiles or drones. Citizens were advised to seek shelter.
Israeli TV stations reported that the military would respond forcefully to today’s missile and drone attacks from Iran, potentially plunging the Middle East into an unending cycle of conflict.
“If Israel makes another mistake, Iran’s response will be even more painful,” stated an Iranian representative at the United Nations in New York, adding that the United States should not intervene and that today’s actions were in response to the attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria.
Iran considers today’s missile and drone strike to be “complete.”
Meanwhile, reports also indicate that U.S. fighter jets and air defense systems stationed at its bases in Syria participated in intercepting the Iranian missiles and drones before they could reach Israel, confirmed by a Pentagon spokesperson.
US President Joe Biden cut short a trip to Delaware to return to the White House as tensions mounted on Saturday.
“Our commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” he said, following a meeting with his national security team after Iran’s attack began.
U.S. President Joe Biden had before this reiterated Washington’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security, stating that all necessary measures would be taken to protect Tel Aviv from attacks by Iran and its proxy groups.
There are also reports that Jordanian fighter jets participated in shooting down Iranian ballistic missiles and drones headed towards Israel, although no official statement has been made by the Jordanian government.
In an escalation to Middle East tensions, an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian embassy building in Damascus on April 2 killed at least three high-ranking Iranian military officials, including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who led the Quds Force operations in Syria and Lebanon, under the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
This incident marked the highest-ranking Iranian military casualty in the region since the killing of Quds Force commander Major General Qasem Soleimani by the United States in Baghdad four years ago.
Mohammad Reza was responsible for coordinating all Iranian military and allied militia operations in Syria and Lebanon.
Another victim, Brigadier General Mohammad Mehdi Rahimi, was a close associate of Mohammad Reza and his deputy in the Quds Force operations in Syria and Lebanon.
Additionally, Brigadier General Hossein Aminollah, the Chief of Staff of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, was also confirmed killed in the Israeli airstrike. — DSA