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The prospect of a regional conflict loomed large over the Middle East on Tuesday, after Iran launched a series of missiles into Israel in an attack for which Israeli forces promised there would be “consequences”.
Over the course of several hours, nearly 200 missiles were by fired by Iran into Israel, according to Israeli army radio, with the attack ending at roughly 6 30pm UK time.
Alarms sounded out through target country, prompting all its citizens to seek protection in air shelters as interceptor missiles were reported to have been fired in response.
Some of the Iranian projectiles were believed to have made it through Israel’s acclaimed Iron Dome defence system, hitting targets in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in central and southern Israel.
No Israelis were said to have been harmed as a result of the strike, the Israeli armed forces said in a statement.
“The attack will have consequences,” said Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). “We will have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide.”
“We have carried out a number of interceptions. There were a few hits in the centre and other areas in the south of the country.”
Hours before the strike occurred, the United States warned that an attack was likely, with President Joe Biden claiming the United States was “prepared to help Israel defend against [them], and protect American personnel in the region”.
The Iranian revolutionary guard said it launched the missiles in retaliation for Israel’s killing of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran in July.
Ayatollah Ali Khlalmenei, Iran’s supreme leader, ordered the attack, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, adding that the Islamic country was “fully ready for any retaliation”.
And Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement on X: “Iran’s legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime… has been duly carried out.
“Should the Zionist regime dare to respond or commit further acts of malevolence, a subsequent and crushing response will ensue. Regional states and the Zionists’ supporters are advised to part ways with the regime.”
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister spoke to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon…
“The prime minister condemned Iran’s attack on Israel today in the strongest terms, which began during the leaders’ conversation, and expressed the UK’s steadfast commitment to Israeli security and the protection of civilians.”
The strike follows weeks of escalating tensions across the Middle East, which had entered a new chapter in the early hours of Tuesday after Israel began a ground offensive in Lebanon.
The IDF issued evacuation orders to almost 30 villages and towns in the south of Lebanon, where the militant group Hizbollah’s strongholds are situated.
Simultaneous the Iranian strike, six people were killed and four injured in a terrorist gun attack in the Israeli neighbourhood of Jaffa.
