JERUSALEM: An Israeli official told AFP on Saturday that the military is “preparing a response” to the Iranian missile barrage that targeted Israel earlier this week.
“The IDF (Israeli military) is preparing a response to the unprecedented and unlawful Iranian attack on Israeli civilians and Israel,” the military official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
He did not elaborate on the nature or timing of the response.
Israel’s left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, quoting the military, reported that the military’s response will be “significant.”
“The IDF is preparing for a significant strike in Iran following this week’s missile attack from Tehran,” the newspaper reported.
“The military does not rule out the possibility that Iran may launch missiles at Israeli territory again after the Israeli attack,” it added.
On October 1, Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel, its second direct attack on the country in less than six months.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense system, while some hit military bases but did not cause major damage or casualties.
Iran said the missiles were launched to avenge the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike in the Lebanese capital on September 27.
Iran’s missile attack was also in response to the death of the former political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on July 31.
Both Iran and Hamas blame Israel for Haniyeh’s killing. Israel has not commented on his death.
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Israel military official says ‘preparing response’ to Iran attack
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Israel military official says ‘preparing response’ to Iran attack
- He did not elaborate on the nature or timing of the response
Fire from Iran, Lebanon triggers sirens across Israel
- Alerts were sounded in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and several other northern regions
- The Israeli army had noticed a gradual decrease in the number of Iranian missiles launched at Israel since Saturday
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it had detected multiple missile barrages from Iran on Wednesday, as well as launches from Lebanon, but added that the number of missiles fired from the Islamic republic at Israel was declining.
AFP journalists heard several blasts and multiple rounds of sirens from Jerusalem, while alerts also sounded in Tel Aviv, central Israel, Haifa and several other northern regions.
“The IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said four times throughout the afternoon and early evening.
In a statement shortly after the first salvo was announced, the military said that “several launches... from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were successfully intercepted” after sirens sounded in central Israel.
The new salvos came on the fifth day of the Middle East war, which began on Saturday with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Lebanon was dragged into the war on Monday when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group launched an attack on Israel to “avenge” the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompting ongoing Israeli air strikes.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Wednesday evening that the army had noticed a gradual decrease in the number of Iranian missiles launched at Israel since the start of the war.
“We are speaking about many dozens the first day going down gradually to a few dozen and very low amounts,” he said.
“The barrages are much smaller. Today, some of them weren’t even a barrage, they were just one missile,” he added.
Shoshani said that some projectiles were launched from Iraq too, where some militias act as Iran proxies.
“We’ve seen small amounts of fire coming from Iraq, mostly UAVs (drones), but the vast majority of fire is from Iran and now from Hezbollah,” he said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services said they had evacuated to hospital two people in central Israel with mild injuries, including “a man of about 30 with shrapnel wounds and another casualty with blast injuries.”
Police said in a statement that officers were dispatched to five locations in the Jerusalem area “where various intercepted projectiles had fallen, causing only damage.”
The military said that the “majority of the launches” from Lebanon were intercepted.
Not including Wednesday’s figures, MDA said that since the start of the war its teams had provided medical treatment to 414 casualties including “10 fatalities, 2 seriously injured, 6 moderately injured and 396 lightly injured.”
AFP journalists heard several blasts and multiple rounds of sirens from Jerusalem, while alerts also sounded in Tel Aviv, central Israel, Haifa and several other northern regions.
“The IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said four times throughout the afternoon and early evening.
In a statement shortly after the first salvo was announced, the military said that “several launches... from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were successfully intercepted” after sirens sounded in central Israel.
The new salvos came on the fifth day of the Middle East war, which began on Saturday with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Lebanon was dragged into the war on Monday when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group launched an attack on Israel to “avenge” the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompting ongoing Israeli air strikes.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Wednesday evening that the army had noticed a gradual decrease in the number of Iranian missiles launched at Israel since the start of the war.
“We are speaking about many dozens the first day going down gradually to a few dozen and very low amounts,” he said.
“The barrages are much smaller. Today, some of them weren’t even a barrage, they were just one missile,” he added.
Shoshani said that some projectiles were launched from Iraq too, where some militias act as Iran proxies.
“We’ve seen small amounts of fire coming from Iraq, mostly UAVs (drones), but the vast majority of fire is from Iran and now from Hezbollah,” he said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services said they had evacuated to hospital two people in central Israel with mild injuries, including “a man of about 30 with shrapnel wounds and another casualty with blast injuries.”
Police said in a statement that officers were dispatched to five locations in the Jerusalem area “where various intercepted projectiles had fallen, causing only damage.”
The military said that the “majority of the launches” from Lebanon were intercepted.
Not including Wednesday’s figures, MDA said that since the start of the war its teams had provided medical treatment to 414 casualties including “10 fatalities, 2 seriously injured, 6 moderately injured and 396 lightly injured.”
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