Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an unprecedented attack on its nuclear facilities, escalating a conflict between sworn enemies that threatens to engulf the oil-rich Middle East.
The Islamic Republic targeted Israeli cities with multiple waves of missiles and a barrage of drones starting Friday evening, some of which breached the country’s air defenses. US forces helped shoot down the projectiles.
Three people were killed in the Tel Aviv area and at least 40 were injured in multiple strikes, according to police and emergency services.
Photo: AP
There was video footage of at least one large explosion in Tel Aviv and reports of blasts over Jerusalem. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed.
Israel’s air defense systems, including the Iron Dome and David’s Sling, boast an interception rate upward of 90 percent. If combined at varying altitudes, the chance of a successful shoot-down increases exponentially.
Israel, which killed top Iranian generals and badly damaged key military infrastructure with its first strikes overnight on Thursday, continued targeting Iran’s defense arrays on Friday and early yesterday.
More than 200 aircraft participated in Israel’s initial operation that hit about 100 locations. Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, said 78 people were killed and more than 320 people have been wounded so far across the country.
Several residential buildings in Tehran’s suburbs were hit, Iranian media said.
The intensity of the fighting represents a turning point for Israel and Iran, testing new limits in terms of their aggression and willingness to escalate.
The fighting also casts doubt on the future of US negotiations with Iran on a deal to limit the country’s nuclear activities.
“The other side has done something that makes dialogue meaningless,” Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said, although he did not specify that a sixth round of talks scheduled to take place in Oman today would be called off.
Further escalation — particularly any targeting of US military or diplomatic facilities in the region — could rally domestic political support for Iran’s rulers and dramatically intensify the conflict. It is unclear if Tehran is entertaining last-resort options — such as blocking the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s vital oil arteries.
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to “act forcefully” in a prerecorded video message carried by state TV.
Israel “should not think that it is over. We won’t allow them to escape unscathed from this great crime they have committed,” he said in a statement released after Iran started its retaliation.
The semi-official Fars news agency cited an unnamed military official as saying the conflict would soon “expand” beyond Israel to US bases in the region.
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