Iran fires at least 180 missiles into Israel as regionwide conflict grows

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday vowed retaliation against Iran for its missile barrage on Israel.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it,” Netanyahu said as he gathered his Security Cabinet for a late-night meeting.

Netanyahu said the missile attack was a failure and that Iran would soon learn a painful lesson just as its enemies in Gaza, Lebanon and other places have learned.

“Whoever attacks us. We attack them,” he said.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of escalating attacks in a yearslong conflict between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatens to push the Middle East closer toward a regionwide war.

The orange glow of missiles streaked across Israel’s night sky as air raid sirens sounded and residents scrambled into bomb shelters. Israel vowed retaliation for Iran’s missile barrage, which it said had caused only a few injuries.

Before Iran’s attack, Israel had landed a series of devastating blows in recent weeks against the leadership of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. It then ratcheted up the pressure on the militant group — which has been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began — by launching what it said is a limited ground incursion in southern Lebanon.

Israel has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for citizens displaced from homes near the Lebanon border to return. Hezbollah has vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza with Hamas, which is also supported by Iran.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the country’s air defences intercepted many of the incoming missiles, though some landed in central and southern Israel. Israel’s national rescue service said two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel. In the West Bank, Palestinian officials said a Palestinian man was killed by a missile that fell near the town of Jericho.

The Israeli military vowed to respond. “We will choose when to exact the price,” said the military’s chief, Lt General Herzi Halevi.

Israel and Iran have fought a shadow war for years, but rarely have they come into direct conflict.

Israel considers Iran to be its greatest foe — citing Iran’s repeated calls for Israel’s destruction, its support for Arab militant groups and its nuclear programme. Iran denies Israeli accusations that it is developing a nuclear weapon.

Moments before Iran launched its missiles, a shooting attack in Tel Aviv left six people dead, police said, adding that the two suspects who had opened fire on a boulevard in the Jaffa neighbourhood had also been killed.

In the US, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Iran’s missile attack a “significant escalation”, although he said it was ultimately “defeated and ineffective”, in part because of assistance from the US military in shooting down some of the inbound missiles.

Iran said it fired the missiles as retaliation for attacks that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. It referenced Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard General Abbas Nilforushan, both killed in an Israeli airstrike last week in Beirut. It also mentioned Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader in Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran in a suspected Israeli attack in July.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel said it had begun limited ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire pounded southern Lebanese villages, and Hezbollah responded with a barrage of rockets into Israel. There was no immediate word on casualties.

While Hezbollah denied Israeli troops had entered Lebanon, the Israeli army announced it had also carried out dozens of covert ground raids into southern Lebanon going back nearly a year.

On Tuesday morning, Israel warned people in southern Lebanon to evacuate to the north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometres from the border and much farther than the Litani River, which marks the northern edge of a UN-declared zone intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after their 2006 war.

The border region has largely emptied out over the past year as the two sides have traded fire. But the scope of the evacuation warning raised questions as to how deep Israel plans to send its forces into Lebanon.

An AP reporter saw Israeli troops operating near the border in armoured trucks, with helicopters circling overhead, but could not confirm ground forces had crossed into Lebanon.

Ahead of the Israeli announcement of an incursion, US officials on Monday said Israel had described launching small ground raids inside Lebanon as it prepared for a wider operation.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has seen sporadic incursions by Israeli military forces, but “they have not witnessed a full-scale invasion”.

Hagari said Israel had carried out dozens of small raids inside Lebanon since October 8, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel after the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

Hagari said Israeli forces had crossed the border to collect information and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, including tunnels and weapons. Israel has said Hezbollah was preparing its own October 7-style attack into Israel. It was not immediately possible to confirm those claims.

He said Israel’s aims for its ground offensive in Lebanon were limited. “We’re not going to Beirut,” he said.