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Iran launched an attack on Israel in retaliation for an alleged Israeli attack on Damascus that killed several senior Iranian commanders, pushing the Middle East closer to a full-blown regional war.
Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said Iran has launched drones that will take several hours to reach the country, adding that the Israeli army is “prepared and ready on all its systems, offensively and defensively, for a variety of scenarios that we have prepared in advance.”
“We are working in close coordination with the United States and our partners in the region to operate against these launches and intercept them. . . we have another layer of defense [provided] by the US military,” Hagari said in a televised news conference.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said “dozens” of missiles and drones had been fired at Israel. A post published by the account of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on social media platform X reads: “The evil regime will be punished.”
The Israeli attack on the consulate in Damascus on April 1 represented a significant escalation in the hostilities that have engulfed the Middle East since the war between Hamas and Israel erupted in October.
Over the past six months, Israeli forces have exchanged almost daily fire with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, while other Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have also fired missiles and drones at Israel.
But so far Iran and Israel have avoided direct confrontation. Despite their long history of enmity, the two countries have never clashed with attacks launched from their own territory. Only once before – in 2018 – had Iranian forces based in Syria fired directly at Israel.
But Iran’s leadership has vowed to retaliate following the attack on the consulate in Damascus, which Iranian officials said they considered “sovereign territory” and which claimed the lives of a top Iranian general and six other military officers.
In recent days, Israel has been preparing for the response. Last Saturday, the Israeli army announced limits on public gatherings and the closure of schools for the next two days. It also planned to close its airspace to all commercial travel. Hagari said GPS outages could occur in some parts of the country.
In a statement recorded Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he appreciated the fact that the United States “stands with Israel” and the support of the United Kingdom, France and other countries.
The longtime prime minister also issued a direct threat to Iran. “I have established a clear principle: whoever hurts us, we hurt him. We will protect ourselves from any threat and we will do so with composure and determination,” he said.
US President Joe Biden cut short his weekend in Delaware and hastily returned to Washington on Saturday for consultations with his national security team.
The U.S. National Security Council said the president “is being regularly updated on the situation” and that “the attack is likely to unfold over several hours.”
“President Biden has been clear: Our support for Israel’s security is unyielding. The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran,” an NSC spokesperson said.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington