About 180 missiles were launched towards Israel, Tuesday, as Iran responds to recent assassinations and attacks carried out by the Israel Defense Force(IDF) and Mossad against Iranian and allied targets in Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Military officials have confirmed that some hits were recorded during Tuesday's attacks "in the centre and other areas in the south of the country."
Footage on Israeli TV appeared to show some missiles flying over the Tel Aviv area shortly before 16:45 UTC. According to Israeli medics, two people were slightly wounded by shrapnel, and a Palestinian was killed in Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israeli military said "a large number" of the missiles fired by Iran were intercepted. David’s Sling -- a joint US-Israeli manufactured system -- is designed to intercept medium to long-range rockets, as well as ballistic and cruise missiles; while Iron Dome is designed to intercept short-range rockets of the sort fired by Hamas and Hezbollah. The Jewish state also has the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 which intercept long-range ballistic missiles.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards(IRGC) however said it had targeted three Israeli military bases in Tuesday's attack. The Islamic Republic said its forces used hypersonic missiles for the first time; and claimed that 90% of the projectiles hit their targets.
Minutes before the Iranian attack Tuesday, at least six people were killed and nine wounded when two gunmen got off a train in Tel Aviv and opened fire on passers-by, before being shot dead themselves by security forces and an armed civilian, Israeli police said. The incident was labelled a terrorist attack but there was no immediate claim of responsibility from Palestinian or other militant groups.
The Israeli military has warned of severe repercussions in response to Tuesday's attack. IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Haggari said the attack had been "serious" and that the country remained on high alert.
"This attack will have consequences," Haggari said. "We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide.”
The IRGC in its statement, said that Tehran's response would be "more crushing and ruinous" if Israel retaliated.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack "in the strongest terms" during a call with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
"We stand with Israel and we recognise her right to self defence in the face of this aggression," Starmer said, speaking in Downing Street. He said Iran must stop these attacks together with its proxies like Hezbollah."
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had said there would be "severe consequences" for Iran if it carried out an attack on Israel following a conversation with the country's defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Tuesday's attacks are merely the latest escalation in a long-running proxy war between the two regional powers. IRGC said in a statement that the attacks were in response to Israel's killing of one of its top commanders and leaders of Iran-backed militias in the region.
Israel killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoshan in Beirut last weekend. The Jewish state also killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
Security and foreign policy experts say Israel's reckless military escalations could lead to a regional and global conflict especially given the absence of leadership from Washington DC, with President Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris facing mounting criticisms.
