Media reports say Iran unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones on Saturday and during the early hours of Sunday, targeting Israel in retaliation for last week’s suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus that killed 13 people.
This marks the first-ever direct attack by Iran on Israeli territory from Iranian soil. Iran called the attack Operation True Promise.
Citing US officials, Al-Jazeera reports that the attack began on Saturday night around 20:00 GMT. It reportedly lasted approximately five hours.
During the attack, explosions were reportedly heard in cities across Israel, including Tel Aviv. The explosions were also heard in Jerusalem, and air raid sirens sounded in more than 720 locations as Israeli forces sought to shoot down the projectiles.
According to a report by The Associated Press (AP), Israel’s chief military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said Iran’s attack involved more than 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones, and more than 30 cruise missiles.
The Israeli military also said that the vast majority of the projectiles were intercepted outside the country’s borders, with help from the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Jordan also shot down some of the missiles aimed at Israel as they were flying through Jordanian airspace.
Israel’s military added that a “small number of hits were identified”. In a base located in southern Israel, “minor damage occurred to the infrastructure”.
A seven-year-old girl was also severely injured by missile fragments, while other patients sustained minor injuries and some were treated for anxiety.
Iran’s media outlets say Iran has targeted only Israeli military sites in 'limited' strike. According to IRNA, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollhian said Iran's retaliatory strike against Israel was “limited” in scope, meaning “we did not define any non-military targets in our response”.
The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran targeted a military base where the Israeli army keeps F-35 aircraft, where the attack against Iran's embassy building in Damascus early this month originated, Amirabdollhian said at a press conference in Tehran on Sunday.
