Israeli and Iranian officials confirmed that Iran fired dozens of drones toward Israel late Saturday in an unprecedented revenge mission that brought the Middle East ever closer to a region-wide war.
The Israeli military said over 100 drones were fired but that its air defenses were prepared for the attack and able to respond. The USA, with its large troop presence within the region, agreed to this provide unspecified support to Israel.
“We are monitoring the threat,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced in a nationally televised address, saying it will take several hours for the drones to achieve Israel. The Israeli military said it couldn’t confirm whether it intercepted drones or what targets they targeted.
The attack marked the primary time Iran launched a large-scale military attack on Israel, despite many years of hostility dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran had vowed revenge since April 1st Air strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consulate constructing. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack. Israel has not commented on this.
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month term War against Hamas fighters within the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Iranian-backed militant groups, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. An Israeli offensive within the Gaza Strip has caused widespread devastation, killing over 33,000 people, based on local health authorities.
Almost immediately after the war broke out, Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, began attacks on Israel’s northern border. The two sides have been engaged in day by day exchanges of fireside while Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have fired rockets at Israel.
In a press release released late Saturday by Iran’s state news agency IRNA, the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards admitted to having “fired dozens of drones and missiles at the Zionist regime’s occupied territories and positions.” The explanation was not explained further.
Online videos shared by state television purport to indicate delta-wing drones just like Iran’s Shahed-136 drones, which Russia has long utilized in the war against Ukraine. The drones carry bombs and fly slowly. Ukraine has successfully used each surface-to-air missiles and ground fire to attack the drones.
Iran has an enormous arsenal of drones and missiles. Tehran’s decision to make use of the Shahed-136 drones gives Israel and its allies hours to shoot them down. Apparently, Iran didn’t use any of its ballistic missiles within the attack, which might pose a greater risk to Israel.
Israel has a multi-layered air defense network that features systems able to intercepting a wide range of threats, including long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range missiles.
Hagari, the military spokesman, said Israel was “prepared and ready” with each defensive and offensive responses. However, he warned that air defense was not 100% effective and urged the general public to heed safety instructions.
The Army’s Home Front Command canceled school classes on Sunday and limited public gatherings to a maximum of 1,000 people. Israel has closed its airspace and canceled all flights.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned earlier Saturday: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them.”
In Washington, President Joe Biden cut short a weekend trip to his beach house in Delaware to return to the White House. The White House said he was prepared to convene a gathering of the National Security Council on Saturday to debate the approaching attack.
“The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a press release.
Gen. Erik Kurilla, the top of the U.S. military’s Central Command, was in Israel over the weekend and consulted with Israeli defense officials in regards to the Iranian threat. Central Command oversees U.S. forces within the Middle East, while Israel has a powerful arsenal that features long-range missiles and F-35 stealth fighter jets.
For days, Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had threatened to “slap” Israel for its attack on Syria.
In the Iranian capital Tehran early Sunday, witnesses saw long lines at gas stations as people appeared anxious about what might come next. Dozens of hardliners demonstrated in support of the attack in Palestine Square.
Lebanon’s state news agency National News Agency reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling in several locations in southern Lebanon after Iran launched drones.
Flight tracking data late Saturday showed the airspace over Jordan was empty, while few flights continued their north-south routes over Iraq. A single Middle East Airlines flight from Dubai to Beirut remained within the air over Syria. Lebanon closed its airspace.
Early Saturday, commandos from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled from a helicopter onto an Israeli-linked container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the ship.
Iran’s state-run IRNA said a special Guards Navy unit carried out the attack on the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship owned by London-based Zodiac Maritime.
Zodiac Maritime is an element of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred inquiries to MSC. Geneva-based MSC confirmed the seizure and said 25 crew members were on the ship.
“We are working closely with relevant authorities to ensure their welfare and the safe return of the ship,” MSC said.
Watson, the White House spokesman, said the crew included Indian, Filipino, Pakistani, Russian and Estonian nationals and called on Iran to release them and the ship.
IRNA said the Guard would take the ship into Iranian territorial waters.
A Middle Eastern defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to debate intelligence matters, provided video of the attack to the Associated Press, showing Iranian commandos atop a pile of containers on the ship’s deck abseiling.
The video corresponded to known details of the MSC Aries. The commandos rappelled from a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which each the Guard and Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen had previously used to attack ships.
