Iran made ‘big mistake’ with missile attack – Netanyahu
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has now spoken out on the missile attack on Israel by Iran a little earlier on Tuesday.
Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it. Whoever attacks us, we attack them,” he said, as he gathered his security cabinet for a meeting late Tuesday.
The Israeli military says it has received no reports of injuries from the Iranian missile attack.
The military’s spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the country’s air defenses intercepted many of the incoming missiles, though some landed in central and southern Israel.
This strike will have consequences,” he said.
He urged the public to continue to listen to public-safety guidelines from the army.
Key events
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Iran made ‘big mistake’ with missile attack – Netanyahu
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Harris echoes Biden support for US assistance to Israel
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Iran missile attack on Israel ‘twice the scope’ of April attack – Pentagon
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US security adviser says Biden administration is monitoring ‘fluid’ situation
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Hamas praises Iranian missile strikes avenging deaths of militant leaders
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UK prime minister condemns Iran’s missile attack against Israel
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IDF says most of the estimated 180 missiles fired from Iran were intercepted
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Interim summary
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‘This must stop’: UN secretary-general condemns ‘escalation after escalation’ in Middle East
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Iranian missile attack on Israel appears to be over
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Israel threatens retaliation against Iran for missile attack
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Iran ‘ready for any retaliation’ after supreme leader gave order for missile launches, reports say
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US assisting Israel in defense against Iranian missiles – report
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Almost 200 missiles reportedly launched from Iran as Iran says attack was retaliation for Nasrallah killing
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Second wave of missiles reported flying above Jerusalem
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Missiles launched from Iran, says Israeli military – report
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Reports of suspected ‘terror shooting’ in Jaffa
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Israel expects any Iran missile attack to be on a wide scale
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US warns Iran of ‘severe consequences’ if it launches ballistic missiles into Israel
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Air raid sirens heard in Tel Aviv – report
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Israel taking US warnings of imminent Iranian missile launch seriously, IDF spokesman says
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US embassy in Israel tells employees and families to shelter in place ‘until further notice’
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Iranian attack on Israel may be at least as big as one in April – US official
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Egypt condemns Israel’s ‘serious escalation’ in southern Lebanon
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Hezbollah says it has launched missiles towards military post in outskirts of Tel Aviv – report
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US warns of imminent attack on Israel from Iran – reports
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Israel announces it is calling up ‘four additional reserve brigades for operational missions in the northern arena’
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Summary of the day so far …
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Israeli forces have been carrying out raids inside Lebanon for months – IDF
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Israel strikes three anti-aircraft radar stations in Syria – report
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600 people seek refuge from Israeli strikes in monastery in south Lebanon, residents say
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Death toll in Gaza reaches 41,638 says health ministry
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Israel extends home front safety restrictions to include Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
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UK foreign minister Lammy: way forward in Lebanon is ‘political solution, not a military one’
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Lebanon’s caretaker PM appeals for more aid with about one million people displaced by Israeli attacks
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Clashes in occupied West Bank leave one Palestinian dead, four Israeli soldiers wounded
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Israel orders Lebanese residents to evacuate 30 villages in southern Lebanon
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Spain, which commands UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, tells Israel to cease ground operation
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Turkey condemns Israeli ground operation inside Lebanon as an illegal attempt at occupation
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UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon says Israel informed it of ground incursion plans
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Israeli security official says there have been no direct clashes with Hezbollah inside Lebanon, contradicting earlier IDF claim of ‘heavy fighting’
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IDF spokesperson: Israel will continue to do ‘whatever necessary’ to avoid 7 October repeat on any of its borders
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Israelis warn Lebanese citizens not to travel in southern Lebanon amid ‘heavy fighting’
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Israel warns Lebanese citizens in southern Lebanon against moving vehicles amid what it describes as ‘heavy fighting’
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UK government has chartered flight out of Lebanon for Britons wishing to leave
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Israel launches ground incursion into Lebanon
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Opening summary
Harris echoes Biden support for US assistance to Israel
Kamala Harris, the US vice-president and Democratic nominee for president in this November’s election, rather unexpectedly popped up in Washington DC moments ago to say that she “fully supports” Joe Biden’s order to the US military earlier to take part in the shooting down of Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Harris said:
We are still assessing the impact but initial indications are that Israel, with our assistance, was able to defeat this attack [by Iran]. I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself against Iran.”
Harris was in the situation room at the White House with the US president earlier on Tuesday when they were briefed on what was going on in Israel, as Iran launched a barrage of missiles at it, the vast majority of which, according to reports from Israel, were intercepted in the sky above the country and did not injure anyone on the ground.
Harris added that:
We will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our interests against Iran.”
Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the US was “fully supportive” of Israel after Iran’s ballistic missile attacks, describing Tehran’s assault as “defeated and ineffective”.
The US president said he would now discuss with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu about how to respond to Iran, but that it remained to be seen what shape that response would take.
The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military. Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
Asked by reporters what the response towards Iran would be, Biden replied:
That’s in active discussion right now. That remains to be seen.”
Biden indicated he would be talking to Netanyahu in the wake of Tuesday’s developments.
The Agence France-Presse (AFP) has some background on Israel’s so-called Iron Dome, its anti-missile shield.
The Iron Dome air defence system has intercepted thousands of rockets since it went into operation in 2011, providing the country with crucial cover during times of conflict, the agency writes.
It has been heavily relied upon to protect military and civilian sites from frequent barrages of rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s air defences were in operation on Tuesday night, when Iran fired missiles at Israel in what it said was a response to Israel’s killing of Tehran-backed militant leaders.
Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, said Tuesday that the Iranian barrage had been blunted partly by “a very strong aerial defence array”.
Israel initially developed the Iron Dome alone after the 2006 Lebanon war and was later joined by the United States, which has provided funds and know-how.
Iranian state television, long controlled by hard-liners, has aired images of people in Arak, Qom and Tehran celebrating Iran’s missile attack in Israel.
The Associated Press reported that some shouted slogans:
God is great! Death to America. Death to Israel.”
However, Iran’s support of regional militias abroad has been a point of anger domestically during protests, as the country suffers under international sanctions.
The United States has now called on every nation in the world to join it in condemning Iran’s salvo of ballistic missiles against Israel earlier today.
The US state department called the assault brazen and unacceptable.
Matthew Miller, the state department’s spokesperson, was talking a little earlier. This statement has been swiftly and enthusiastically reported by Israeli media.
British prime minister Keir Starmer said Israel had the right to defend itself and said Iran “must stop these attacks”.
Iranian state TV reported earlier that in today’s attack, the Iranian military used Fattah hypersonic missiles on Israel for the first time.
It appears that Israeli defenses, aided by the US, largely intercepted today’s rockets before they could do significant damage or injure anyone on the ground, as Israelis sheltered amid the wailing of air raid sirens.
The Tasnim News Agency, which is associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, posted a little earlier on reports of Iran using Fattah missiles in its assault on Israel today.
Iran’s Fattah-1 hypersonic missile may have been involved in a recent missile strike on an Israeli target, according to an unconfirmed report. https://t.co/HyoAQ5kuYo
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) October 1, 2024
Iran missile attack on Israel ‘twice the scope’ of April attack – Pentagon
The US Department of Defense said that in its assessment, Iran intended to inflict on Israel with its missile attack earlier today and that the barrage of missiles was about “twice the scope” of the Islamic Republic’s attack on the Jewish state back in April of this year.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have calculated that about 180 ballistic missiles were launched from Iran at Israel today.
Back on 14 April, Iran had launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel on a Saturday night in its first ever direct attack on the Israeli state. But it seems as though the weapons fired by Iran today made the overall barrage significantly more powerful than the spring attack.
In April, Tehran said it was responding to a strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on 1 April that killed a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and eight other officers.
The US Department of Defense says US navy destroyers positioned in the Middle East region fired about a dozen interceptor weapons against the barrage of missiles that were fired from Iran into Israel earlier today.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj Gen Patrick Ryder told reporters that no other US military assets were used to shoot down the missiles, which were all fired from inside Iran, Reuters reports.
An unnamed US official had earlier said that the US would support Israel in its defensive capabilities against any incoming rockets, just prior to Iran launching missiles against the Jewish state.
The Pentagon also said it was not aware of any warning by Iran prior to the missile barrage earlier, signaling, perhaps, that prior apparent knowledge of an “imminent attack” came from US/allied intelligence.
It called Iran’s attack on Israel “significant”.
US security adviser says Biden administration is monitoring ‘fluid’ situation
The United States national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Tuesday that Iran’s attack on Israel appeared to have been defeated, although Biden’s administration was still monitoring a “fluid” situation.
Sullivan said the administration was tracking the reported death of a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank, Reuters reports.
Sullivan was talking at the daily media briefing at the White House in Washington DC.
Hamas praises Iranian missile strikes avenging deaths of militant leaders
Hamas has praised the Iranian missile strikes on Israel that Iran said were launched to avenge the deaths of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Iranian Brig Gen Abbas Nilforoushan.
We congratulate the heroic rocket launch carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, on large areas of our occupied territories, in response to the occupation’s continuing crimes against the peoples of the region, and in retaliation for the blood of our nation’s heroic martyrs,” the Hamas statement said, Reuters reported.
Hamas, the Islamic political and military group, controls the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
UK prime minister condemns Iran’s missile attack against Israel
Britain “completely condemns” Iran’s actions after it fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel. Keir Starmer’s office said the prime minister called for de-escalation across the region.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister spoke to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon, and they discussed the escalating situation across the Middle East.
“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.
“During the call, the prime minister also underlined the importance of a ceasefire in Lebanon to allow space for a political solution in line with UNSC Resolution 1701.”
The spokesperson added Starmer “also raised the situation in Gaza and the importance of a ceasefire and action to bring home the hostages”.
The Guardian’s video editors have footage from the ground in Tel Aviv showing the moment missiles caused huge explosions and damage to a restaurant on the coast:
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