Iran fired missiles at Israel yesterday evening in revenge for the killing of top Hezbollah and Hamas leaders as the war in the Middle East threatens to escalate into a major regional conflict. As sirens began to wail across the country and orange flares began to appear in the night sky, Israelis began looking for bomb shelters. Israel said it had intercepted most of the missiles and vowed to make Iran “pay” for the attack. Amid claims and counterclaims from Iran and Israel, it is difficult to ascertain how successful Tuesday’s attacks were and whether Israel would immediately retaliate.
Here are 5 points of what Israel and Iran said about Tuesday’s attacks.
- Yesterday there were reports of Iran firing 400 missiles at Israel. But Iran confirmed this morning that it had fired 200 missiles, while Israel put the count at 180. Sirens were sounded throughout the country and most of the missiles were intercepted by Israeli air defense or allied air forces before they reached their area.
- State media footage shows Iranian missiles being launched at Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the missiles targeted “three military targets” around Tel Aviv and other targets, adding that 90% of them “hit their targets”. Israel denied this claim and said that only 20 missiles fell while the rest were intercepted.
- Iran has claimed to have attacked the headquarters of Israel’s main intelligence agency Mossad. However, Israel has denied this and said that some missiles fell on empty ground. A video showing a huge crater near the Mossad headquarters has surfaced on social media – possibly caused by a missile attack.
- Iran said yesterday that they used hypersonic Fatah missiles to target military facilities in Israel, which were successful. This claim was contested by Israel as they claimed to have intercepted most of the missiles. Israel said only two people were injured in the attacks.
- Iran warned that Israel would launch “crushing strikes” against Israel if it responded to an Iranian missile attack. But Israel described the missile attack as “Iran’s biggest mistake” and vowed to retaliate at a time and place of its choosing. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, “This attack will have consequences. We have plans and we will take action at the designated place and time.”
