Iran launches dozens of drones and ballistic missiles against Israel

Iran said this launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel on Saturday, in a major attack following days of sharply rising tensions in the region and warnings from the US and elsewhere of the eruption of a wider conflict.

Air raid warning sirens began wailing over Jerusalem shortly before 2 a.m. local time on Sunday after weapons were fired a few hours earlier in Iran, with US and Jordanian military personnel assisting Israel’s air defenses in intercepting the attack. first dam.

With weapons believed to still be in the air on their way to Israel, Iran’s mission to the United Nations published in X: “Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic facilities in Damascus. The matter can be considered completed.”

However, he threatened to take more severe measures in the face of further Israeli aggression and specifically warned the US and Jordan not to help Israel.

However, the United States military and Jordanian fighter jets shot down some Iranian drones, officials said.

And the US Embassy in Jerusalem told all US government employees to shelter in place until further notice, according to a security alert published Saturday.

Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, had previously said that Iran launched the new offensive on Saturday night..

It was the Islamic Republic’s first direct attack on the Jewish state, an event that brings the two countries to the brink of all-out conflict, after more than a decade of shadowy war and growing stress six months later. Israel’s war in Gaza following the Hamas attack last October.

It was reported on Israeli television that Iran had fired more than 100 drones, as well as cruise missiles, at Israel, and Iran later said it had fired a “first wave” of ballistic missiles.

Joe Biden rushed back to Washington on Saturday afternoon after a weekend trip to Delaware when it became clear from leadership signals that some kind of attack from Iran was imminent.

The Iranian weapons were launched just hours after the White House first announced that the US president would return to Washington after a planned weekend on the beach in Delaware, “to consult with his national security team on the events in the Middle East”.

Related: The world eagerly awaits Iran’s response to Israel’s assassination of a top general

There have been nearly two weeks of speculation about when, where and how Tehran or its proxy forces in Syria, Iraq and Yemen would respond for an April 1st Israeli attack in an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, which killed General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and eight other officers, with the protagonist of that attack presumed to have been Israel.

Biden shortly afterwards made public that Israel had not shared its intentions with the US and said he had no prior knowledge of the attack in Syria, signaling that, in addition to Israel’s blockade of Gaza causing famine, US influence over Israel has limits.

Furthermore, Biden’s hasty return to the White House on Saturday followed his saying on Friday that he expected an Iranian attack on Israel “sooner or later” and issued a last message to Tehran, saying: “Don’t do this”, which clearly went unheeded.

Early on Saturday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps, in the Strait of Hormuz, 50 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, seized one Israel-affiliated container ship.

The ship’s operator, the Italian-Swiss group MSC, later confirmed that Iranian authorities had approached it by rappelling from a helicopter. The White House condemned the seizure of the British-owned ship.

National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the US strongly condemned the seizure and urged Iran to release the ship and crew immediately., qualifying the incursion as a violation of international law and an act of piracy.

Upon returning to the White House, Biden entered the Oval Office and called a high-level meeting in the Situation Room.

According to the White House, the president was accompanied by Lloyd Austin, the secretary of Defense; Antony Blinken, Secretary of State; Gen. Charles Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; William Burns, the director of the CIA; Avril Haines, director of national intelligence; and Jake Sullivan, national security adviser.

Austin spoke with Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, on Saturday to discuss pressing regional threats in the Middle East and “reiterated the U.S.’s unwavering support for Israel’s defense,” according to the Pentagon.

After the attacks began, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said: “Israel has been preparing for a direct attack from Iran. Our defensive systems are in place… We appreciate the US position alongside Israel, as well as the support from Britain, France and many other countries.”

The U.S. House of Representatives will change its calendar to consider legislation that supports Israel and holds Iran accountable, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a statement Saturday.

It was unclear whether Scalise was referring to a stand-alone bill to aid Israel or the $95 billion supplemental spending bill that includes $14 billion for Israel in addition to $60 billion for Ukraine, support to Taiwan and billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance. which was blocked from being voted on by House Republicans.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed reporting