War clouds loom; Iran fires 300 drones, missiles, Israel says 99% intercepted

Jerusalem: Booms and air raid sirens sounded across Israel early Sunday after Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

A military spokesman said the launches numbered more than 300 but 99% of them were intercepted. Calling the outcome “a very significant strategic success,” Rear Adm.

Daniel Hagari said Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles.

Of those, several ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing minor damage to an air base.

Rescuers said a 7-year-old girl in a Bedouin Arab town was seriously wounded in southern Israel, apparently in a missile strike, though they said police were still investigating the circumstances of her injuries.

In Washington, President Joe Biden said U.S. forces helped Israel down “nearly all” the drones and missiles and pledged to convene allies to develop a unified response.

The Iranian attack, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building, marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Condemnation from the United Nations chief and others was swift, with France saying Iran “is risking a potential military escalation,” Britain calling the attack “reckless" and Germany saying Iran and its proxies “must stop it immediately."

Hagari said the vast majority of the intercepts came outside Israel's borders, including 10 cruise missiles that were intercepted by warplanes. "A wide-scale attack by Iran is a major escalation,” he said.

Asked whether Israel would respond, Hagari said only that the army “does and will do whatever is required to protect the security of the state of Israel.”

He said the incident was not over, and dozens of Israeli warplanes remained in the skies. Israel's military said its Arrow system, which shoots down ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere, handled most interceptions and noted that “strategic partners” were involved.

“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week,” Biden said in a statement.

“Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.” (AP)