Iran today fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah ally in Lebanon.
Alarm sirens sounded across Israel and explosions were heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River Valley after Israelis went to shelters. State television journalists lay on the ground during live broadcasts.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced that Iran had fired dozens of rockets at Israel, and that if Israel retaliated, Tehran's reaction would be "stronger and more devastating."
The Israeli army later announced the end of the alert and announced that Israelis could leave the shelters. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the army had no information that there were any injuries in the Iranian missile attacks. He said there were several hits in central and southern Israel. Hagari called the attack serious and said there would be consequences, but did not give details.
"We are at a high level of readiness, both defensively and offensively," Hagari said in a televised address. "We will defend the citizens of the State of Israel. This attack will have consequences. We have plans and we will implement them where and when we decide."
A senior Iranian official later told Reuters that the order to fire rockets at Israel was given by the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei is in a safe location, the senior official added.
A senior official said that Iran had informed Russia ahead of the rocket attacks on Israel. It was also announced that immediately before the attack, the United States was also informed through diplomatic channels.
Reuters journalists witnessed the interception of Iranian missiles in the airspace of neighboring Jordan. Israel's army radio announced that almost 200 rockets had been fired at Israel from Iran.
Earlier, the Israeli military announced that a large-scale ballistic missile attack from Iran was expected, and urged citizens to seek shelter.
Oil prices rose 5 percent after news of Iran's missile attacks, raising the possibility of a wider war between the two foes, Reuters points out.
A previous wave of Iranian rockets fired at Israel in April - the first such incident - was shot down with the help of the US military and other allies. Israel then responded with airstrikes against Iran, but a wider escalation was avoided, the British agency reminds.
Iran has vowed for days to retaliate after attacks in Lebanon killed leaders of its Hezbollah allies.
The rocket fire came after Israel said its troops had carried out ground attacks in Lebanon, although it described the actions as limited. Israel's campaign in Lebanon represents the biggest escalation of the regional war since clashes broke out in Gaza a year ago.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, today ordered the American military to help defend Israel from Iranian attacks and shoot down rockets aimed at Israel, the National Security Council of the White House announced last night.
Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris watched the attack from the White House crisis management room, a spokesman for the Council on Platform X announced.
Biden said earlier today that the US is ready to help Israel defend itself against attacks. "We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks and protect American personnel in the region," Biden announced on the X Network after meeting with Kamala Harris and the national security team.
Although characterized by Israel as limited, the first ground campaign in Lebanon in 18 years would bring Israeli soldiers into conflict with Hezbollah, Iran's best-armed proxy in the Middle East.
It represents the biggest escalation in the regional war since fighting broke out in Gaza a year ago, and comes after weeks of intense airstrikes that have weakened Hezbollah. More than a thousand Lebanese were killed, including Hezbollah leaders, and a million fled their homes.
Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel, prompting fears that the war could spill across borders across the region.
The Iraqi resistance group, a militant formation linked to Iran, threatened today that US bases in Iraq will be their target if the US joins Israel's response to Iran or if Iraqi airspace is used.
In the escalation of the war into which Lebanon was dragged, hundreds of people died. Near the city of Sidon, south of Beirut, mourners wept over coffins containing the bodies of those killed in Israeli attacks.
"The building collapsed and I couldn't protect my daughter or anyone else. Thank God, my son and I got out, but I lost my daughter and my wife, I lost my home, I became homeless. What do you want me to say? My whole life changed in a second,” resident Abdulhamid Ramadan said.
Many Lebanese have said they are ready to stand up to Israeli forces.
"Not only Hezbollah, all of Lebanon will fight this time. All of Lebanon is determined to fight against Israel because of the massacres it has committed in Gaza and Lebanon," said Abu Ala, a resident of Sidon.
Israel has long said it will do whatever it takes to secure its northern border and allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to the cities they fled since the Gaza war broke out a year ago, when Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border in a show of solidarity. with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Hamas last night praised the Iranian attacks as revenge for the killings of its leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan.
An Israeli security official said troops in southern Lebanon launched limited attacks in Lebanon overnight that extended only a short distance across the border, adding that no direct clashes with Hezbollah fighters were reported. The military said that similar attacks have actually been taking place for the past few months.
But in an apparent indication that the war could widen further, the army said it was calling up four additional reserve brigades for operational missions on the northern border.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, condemned last night "the spread of the conflict in the Middle East, with escalation after escalation".
“This has to stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire," Guterres said in a statement.
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