Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a severe response to a 180-missile barrage, but what form it will take is as yet unclear.
Iran fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday night, causing sirens to sound across major Israeli cities. No major injuries or casualties were recorded, according to Israeli authorities.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder stated that Israel successfully intercepted most of the missiles, and two US Navy destroyers also shot down about 12 interceptors to assist the Israeli military.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on the other hand, announced that its forces had used Fattah supersonic missiles for the first time, claiming that 90% of their launchers hit their targets.
Guards sources told state media in Tehran that the attack targeted three Israeli military bases.
“We exercised our right to legitimate defence under Article 51 of the Charter and exclusively targeted military and security bases responsible for genocide in Gaza and Lebanon,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on his account on the X social network.
However, a Pentagon spokesman added that “the least damage on the ground” had been inflicted in Israel.
Israeli media also reported the killing of a 30-year-old woman, Shahir Goldman.
Which countries came to Israel’s aid?
US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said its partners assisted Israel and Washington in countering the attack.
It declined to disclose the names of the countries concerned, however, and told reporters that it would allow them to comment on their own.
So far, the UK’s Defence Secretary John Healey has acknowledged his country’s forces were involved, posting on X to thank British forces but giving no details of what their operations entailed.
The attack ended very quickly, and Iran’s representative at the UN announced at around 8 pm local time that the attack was over.
According to official statements, Tehran did not inform Washington about the start of the attack, but the US had issued an advance warning that it was expected.
Why was the attack launched?
In recent days, a wave of Israeli airstrikes has killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders while driving hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from their homes.
Israel then launched what it said was a limited ground incursion in southern Lebanon.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attack was launched “in response to the aggression of the Zionist regime, including the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
It also mentioned Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader in Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran in a suspected Israeli attack in July.
What happens next?
Although Iran’s Foreign Ministry officially said its operations were over, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would “pay” for the missile launch.
“Iran made a grave mistake this evening, and it will pay for it,” Netanyahu said at a meeting of the security cabinet. “The Tehran regime does not understand our determination to defend itself and impose a cost on enemies.”
The Israeli Defence Forces has simply said “there will be consequences”.
Iran-supporting armed groups in Iraq stated that if the US joined any response from Israel or if Israel used Iraqi airspace against Tehran, they would consider American bases in Iraq and the region a target for their own attacks.
The Palestinian group Hamas hailed the Iranian IRGC’s missile strike on Israel, calling it “heroic,” while a group of Iranians took to the streets to express their satisfaction at the attack.
