Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel, claiming it was in retaliation for Israel’s actions in Lebanon and Gaza.
Israel intercepted most of the missiles, but the attack caused casualties and damage, prompting a vow of retaliation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
World leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, condemned the attack and called for an immediate ceasefire.
Iran has said its missile attack on Israel has ended and it will not be renewed unless Tehran will be forced to act again amid growing fears of a wider regional conflict.
Tehran on October 1 launched a massive ballistic missile attack on Israel, its largest so far, in retaliation for the campaign launched by the Jewish state in southern Lebanon against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, prompting warnings of countermeasures from Israel and its main ally, the United States.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a message on X that the attack targeted “solely military and security sites” involved in what he said was the Israeli “genocide in Gaza and Lebanon” and was conducted by Iran in “self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.”
“Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful,” Araghchi said.
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) earlier said the missile attack was in response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week.
Hezbollah is both an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. It is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, although the European Union has only blacklisted its armed wing.
Israeli air defenses intercepted most of the estimated 180 missiles that were fired, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, though some landed in central and southern Israel. He told Israelis about an hour after the attack was launched that it was safe for them to leave their bomb shelters.
Israeli rescuers said two people were lightly injured by shrapnel while in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian was killed in Jericho “when pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him,” according to the city’s governor Hussein Hamayel.
As the UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the Middle East for October 2, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a big mistake” and said Tehran “will pay for it.” He added: “Whoever attacks us, we attack them.”
U.S. President Joe Biden said he would discuss a response with Netanyahu. Asked what the response would be, Biden replied: “That’s in active discussion right now. That remains to be seen.”
Separately, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin slammed what he said was an “outrageous act of aggression” by Iran, while Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told the media that the attack would have “severe consequences.”
He added that the attack appears to have been “defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the U.S. military” and said the United States is “fully supportive of Israel.”
Israeli police reported that at least six people were killed and nine wounded in a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv.
Police said it was a “terrorist” attack carried out at a light rail station and the two attackers were later killed by civilians and inspectors using their own firearms. There has been no claim of responsibility.
While the missile attack sent Israelis scurrying to take cover in bomb shelters, it prompted people in Iran to celebrate. State television broadcast images from the city of Mashhad showing people in the streets waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah and portraits of the group’s slain chief, Hassan Nasrallah. Similar celebrations also took place in the capital Tehran and in several provincial cities.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also called for an immediate cease-fire and condemned Iran’s attack “in the strongest terms,” while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the attack was “totally unacceptable” and should be condemned by the entire world.”
Earlier on October 1, the Israeli military said it had launched “targeted and precise” raids inside Lebanon in what it called a “limited” ground incursion that started overnight, adding that its troops were engaged in “heavy fighting” with Hezbollah.
Israel has launched withering air attacks on Hezbollah in recent weeks, killing Nasrallah as well as claiming the lives of multiple Hezbollah leaders and other members of sanctioned militant groups.
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