Iran has launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, firing a barrage of missiles in the country’s latest escalation amid weeks of rising violence and tensions in the region.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday it had fired rockets at Israel in response to deadly Israeli attacks against people in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as assassinations of top IRGC, Hamas and Hezbollah officials.
Alarms were sounded in Israel on Tuesday evening as rockets hit major cities and towns.
Israel and its main ally, the United States, said their respective militaries cooperated to shoot down most of the nearly 200 missiles fired by Iran.
Israel’s military said only “a few” hits were reported in the central and southern parts of the country, while two people were injured by falling shrapnel in the Tel Aviv area, Israel’s emergency services said.
Tehran has vowed to retaliate against Israel for a series of attacks against Iran and the militias it supports in the Middle East, including Hezbollah.
Israel launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon on Monday evening, dubbed Operation Northern Arrow, with shelling across the border.
The ground invasion is the first time Israeli troops have launched sustained operations in Lebanon since 2006, when the two countries signed a peace deal that ended a 34-day war between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah militia, which controls large parts of southern Lebanon.
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The Israeli offensive followed a series of Israeli successes against Hezbollah that appeared to have emboldened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to crack down on the Iranian-backed organization despite considerable diplomatic efforts to avert an escalation of the war.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut on Friday, dealing a heavy blow to the militant group and raising fears that the conflict could spread across the Middle East.
Two weeks of strikes followed, beginning with the explosion of Hezbollah members’ pagers and walkie-talkies, killing dozens and injuring thousands. Since then, Israel has continued to pound Beirut and has also launched strikes in Yemen and Syria and launched attacks against Iranian-backed militias across the Middle East.
