ibn sultan
Iran says it has launched waves of ballistic missiles towards Israel in retaliation for a major deadly attack on Tehran’s nuclear sites and military leaders.
Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as sirens sounded across Israel on Friday night. This follows an unprecedented attack by Israel in the early hours of Friday, which targeted Iranian nuclear sites, senior military commanders and scientists.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel’s strikes had “initiated a war” and it would not be allowed to do “hit and run” attacks without consequences.
“The Zionist regime [Israel] will not remain unscathed from the consequences of its crime. The Iranian nation must be guaranteed that our response will not be half-measured,” Khamenei said in a statement.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Iran “carried out its crushing and precise response against dozens of targets, military centres and airbases” in Israel at the command of Supreme Leader Khamenei.
Three separate waves of attacks and hundreds of missiles were launched at Israel on Friday night, Iranian state media said.
At least one projectile impacted central Tel Aviv, said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan.
However, the Israeli military said Iran fired fewer than 100 missiles, most of which were either intercepted or fell short.
The United States military also helped Israel shoot down Iranian missiles heading towards the country, the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies reported, citing unnamed US officials.
Still, during the barrage, a modern apartment block was hit in central Tel Aviv, and according to live footage from the scene, fires raged inside some of the apartments, with smoke billowing from the building.
Another residential building, next to the apartment block, also appeared to have suffered significant damage, with windows blown and pieces of twisted metal hanging from its exterior.
At least 40 people were injured during the attack, according to the Israeli news outlet Haaretz, citing emergency services. Earlier, the Israeli ambulance service said two seriously wounded people were trapped in a building in the greater Tel Aviv area.
During the attack, residents were told to avoid public places and retreat to “protected spaces”.
“This was an extensive volley of ballistic missiles, something that Tel Aviv is not used to,” Odeh said. “Psychologically … the sight of damaged buildings, of emergency service providers trying to get people out of those buildings and out of the shelters, this is quite powerful for the Israeli public.”
Following the attack, Iran announced that its airspace would be closed until 2pm local time on Saturday.
At the same time, air defence systems have been activated in Tehran to intercept new Israeli strikes, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.(Al jazeera)
