JERUSALEM: Iran has urged Israel not to retaliate militarily to an unprecedented attack overnight, which Tehran said was a justified response to a strike that destroyed its consulate building in Damascus earlier this month.
Iran launched more than 200 drones and missiles at Israel, the Israeli army announced, in a major escalation of the long-running covert war between the regional foes.
“Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus,” the Iranian mission to the UN said. The attack, according to the mission, was “conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defence”.
“If necessary”, Tehran “will not hesitate to take defensive measures to protect its interests against any aggressive military action,” Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Iran’s allies also carried out coordinated attacks on Israeli positions as sirens sounded in many places and AFP correspondents heard blasts in the skies above Jerusalem early Sunday.
Iran had repeatedly threatened to retaliate against Israel for a deadly April 1 air strike on its Damascus consular annexe, and Washington had warned repeatedly in recent days that the reprisals were imminent.
“Iran launched UAVs from its territory towards the territory of the state of Israel,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.
“We are working in close cooperation with the United States and our partners in the region in order to act against the launches and intercept them.”
People in Jerusalem sought cover, while some residents stockpiled water.
“As you can see it’s empty, everybody is running home,” said Eliyahu Barakat, a 49-year-old grocery shop owner in Jerusalem’s Mamilla neighbourhood.
US President Joe Biden reiterated Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel after an urgent meeting with his top security officials on the spiralling crisis.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed a drone and missile attack was launched against Israel in retaliation for the Damascus strike which killed seven Guards, two of them generals.
The Guards said ballistic missiles were fired almost an hour after the slower-moving drones.
Hundreds of Iranians gathered in Tehran’s Palestine Square waving Iranian and Palestinian flags to celebrate the unprecedented military action against Israel.
The Israeli army said Iran had launched a “massive swarm of over 200 killer drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles”.
“So far, we’ve intercepted the vast majority of incoming missiles,” Hagari claimed.
The army said it had scrambled dozens of fighter jets to intercept “all aerial threats”.
Iran’s allies in the region joined the attack, with Yemen’s Houthis also launching drones at Israel, according to security agency Ambrey. Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement announced it had fired rockets at Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights around the same time, as well as a second barrage hours later.
Tehran’s official IRNA news agency said the attack — which comes against the backdrop of the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the Gaza Strip — had dealt “heavy blows” to an air base in the Negev desert, but the Israeli army said there had only been minor damage.
The Iranian mission to the United Nations warned Washington to keep out of Iran’s conflict with Israel.
“It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. MUST STAY AWAY!” it said.
It added that it hoped its action to punish the strike on its diplomatic mission would lead to no further escalation and “the matter can be deemed concluded”.
But despite Tehran’s warning not to get involved, US forces took part in shooting down drones aimed at Israel.
Biden said in a later statement that the United States had “helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles”.
