Iran fired several waves of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening in a sudden assault that raised the likelihood of a direct all-out war between two of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East.
The attack from Iran was the culmination of a dizzying sequence of events over less than 24 hours that began with Israel launching a ground invasion into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militia. Israel pounded Lebanon from the air throughout Tuesday as its troops advanced on the ground and Hezbollah fired rockets deep into Israel.
Iran fired about 180 missiles during its assault, the Israeli military said, a significant barrage that forced millions of Israelis to take cover in bomb shelters for more than an hour. Many of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defense system, while some fell in central and southern Israel, according to the Israeli military.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Israel, but one Palestinian man was killed by falling shrapnel in the occupied West Bank.
Based on initial reports, Israel “effectively defeated this attack,” with the help of the U.S. and other partners, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, adding that “the entire world should condemn” the Iranian strike.
President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters that U.S. naval destroyers had joined Israel in shooting down inbound missiles. He said there was “meticulous joint planning in anticipation of the attack.”
The offensive left the region on edge. After Israel’s top commanders met to assess the situation, Herzi Halevi, the military’s chief of staff, said Israel would respond in a manner and time of its choosing. And Iran, for its part, said it would fire more missiles if Israel counterattacked.
A senior White House official said the United States would help defend Israel and warned that a direct attack against Israel would “carry severe consequences for Iran.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that its missile attack on Israel was in retaliation for recent assassinations. In July, Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed by a bomb while he was in the Iranian capital in an assassination widely attributed to Israel. Then on Friday, Israeli warplanes killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, with an airstrike just south of Beirut.
During the Iranian attack, air raid sirens sounded across Israel, including in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Explosions were heard above both cities, as Israel’s interceptor rockets streaked across the night sky, colliding with scores of missiles.
The attack came as Israel continued to fight Hamas, another Iranian proxy in the Gaza Strip, and mounted raids on Palestinian cities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Iran last attacked Israel in April, but Israel — with help from the United States, Jordan and others — intercepted most of the hundreds of missiles and drones fired at its territory. With the United States urging restraint, Israel’s response was muted; it fired at an air base near some of Iran’s nuclear facilities but did not hit the facilities themselves.
Here is what else to know:
— U.S. troops: Two U.S. naval destroyers had launched a dozen interceptors against the incoming Iranian missiles, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters Tuesday, adding that no American troops were hurt. The Pentagon said Monday that it was sending “several thousand” more U.S. troops to the region, adding to its force of some 40,000 already in the area.
— Regional response: What sounded like celebratory gunfire could be heard across Beirut following news of the Iranian attack on Israel. The Israeli military has been conducting extensive airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in and near Beirut, including Tuesday.
— In Jordan: Witnesses said that loud explosions were heard in Amman, the capital of Jordan, a country sandwiched between Israel and Iran that helped intercept a launch from Iran on Israel in April.
— Shooting in Tel Aviv: Israel’s emergency response service said at least six people were killed and several more injured when two gunmen opened fire on a light rail train in Tel Aviv shortly after residents were urged to seek shelter from the Iranian attack. No group claimed immediate responsibility. Authorities described the shooting as a terrorist attack.
— Leaving Lebanon: The State Department is working with airlines to “provide more seats” for American citizens who want to leave Lebanon, as the U.S. has urged them to do, according to Matthew Miller, the department’s spokesperson.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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