Wednesday Briefing: Iran Fires 180 Missiles at Israel

Briefing|Wednesday Briefing: Iran Fires 180 Missiles at Israel

Iran launched about 180 missiles at Israel

Iran fired several waves of ballistic missiles at Israel yesterday, raising the likelihood of a direct all-out war between two of the Middle East’s most powerful militaries. There were no reports of casualties in Israel. A Palestinian man was killed by falling shrapnel in the occupied West Bank.

Iran fired about 180 missiles during its assault, the Israeli military said. Many of the missiles were intercepted by the country’s air defense system, while some fell in central and southern Israel. The U.S. said that its naval destroyers also assisted in shooting down inbound missiles.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight — and it will pay for it,” Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said in a statement yesterday. He vowed to strike back.

Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s top military officer, said on state television that the missiles had targeted three military bases and the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. He said that Iran deliberately did not attack civilian targets and infrastructure. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said that the attack was in retaliation for recent assassinations: Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in July in Tehran, and Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, last week.

Analysis: The damage Israel has inflicted on Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia, has stripped Tehran of much of its deterrence against a wider Israeli attack, security experts and former officials said.

In Lebanon: Minutes after the missile attack, the Israeli military said in a statement that it was striking Hezbollah targets in Beirut. Lebanese health officials said that 55 people had been killed and 156 wounded across the country yesterday. Here’s a map of Israel’s invasion.