Iran Launches Hundreds of Missiles, Drones in First Direct Attack on Israel

Israel says, with help from US, UK and other forces, it intercepted vast majority of 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran.I

Iran has launched hundreds of drones  missiles against Israel, in an unprecedented attack that came as a response to an Israeli raid on the Iranian consulate in Syria two weeks ago.

The overnight escalation came more than six months into Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians and pushed the besieged territory to the brink of famine. The war has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq.

The Israeli military said on Sunday the Iranian salvo consisted of more than 300 “killer drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles”, but that 99 percent were intercepted with help from forces from France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The launches, which the army said came from Iran, as well as from Iraq and Yemen, set off air raid sirens in cities across Israel, including Tel Aviv, with explosions heard as air defences intercepted the projectiles.

Medics said a girl in southern Israel was wounded by shrapnel from an intercepted drone, while the military said “a small number of hits were identified, including at [an Israeli military] base in southern Israel, where minor damage was caused to infrastructure”.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed the attack, saying it launched the drones and missiles under Operation True Promise as part of the punishment for “the Zionist entity’s crime of targeting the Iranian consulate in Syria” on April 1.

The raid in Damascus killed 13 people, including two senior generals in the IRGC’s elite Quds Force.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the consulate attack.

With the missiles and drone attack, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said it now deemed the matter “concluded” and warned Israel of a “considerably more severe” response should the “Israeli regime make another mistake”.

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