Iran attacked Israel with over three hundred drones and missiles. Iran launched “more than 300 drones and missiles” against Israel overnight from Saturday to Sunday in response to a bombing of its consulate in Damascus. Israel replied, saying it had rejected 99% of them.
Israeli officials said this morning that the United States, France, Great Britain and Jordan also helped them intercept the massive wave of drones that Iran launched at Israel overnight.
However, President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Saturday that the United States would not support any Israeli counterattack against Iran, a senior White House official told Axios. Biden and his top advisers are very concerned that an Israeli response to an Iranian attack on Israel would lead to a regional war with catastrophic consequences, US officials said.
Tehran has warned the US not to get involved in the conflict, while US jets and anti-aircraft systems have shot down Iranian drones. Images from Israeli cities posted on social media showed explosions in the sky as drones and missiles fired by Tehran were intercepted. The IDF announced that it had intercepted 99 percent of these, including several “dozens” of Iranian ballistic missiles with the help of Israel’s anti-missile shield. Israeli officials have referred to an “unprecedented response” they will give to Iran.
On the other hand, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned this Sunday that his country’s reaction would be “much stronger” in case of “reckless behavior” by Israel, following the unprecedented overnight Iranian attack.
The head of the Iranian armed forces stated this Sunday that the attack undertaken during the night against Israel “achieved all its objectives”, stating at the same time that no urban or economic center was targeted by the Iranian drones and missiles.
He stated that the two main targets were “the intelligence center that provided the Zionists with the necessary information” for the attack that destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, as well as “the Novatim air base, from where they took off the F-35″ planes that bombed the consulate. Saturday’s retaliation is the first direct attack ever undertaken by Iranian power against Israeli territory.
Israel is carefully weighing its actions after Iran’s unprecedented attack on its territory, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in an interview for the Israeli army radio station, dpa informs Sunday.
“We said: if Iran attacks Israel, we will attack Iran. And that statement is still valid,” said Katz. He added that the issue of a possible Israeli response will be discussed in an appropriate framework under the presidency of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Katz expressed his confidence that appropriate and correct decisions will be made then.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas qualified on Sunday the Iranian attack with more than 300 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles launched on Saturday against Israel “a natural right and a deserved response”, informs EFE. “We, within the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), consider the military operation carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the occupying Zionist entity a natural right and a deserved response to the crime of attacking the Iranian consulate in Damascus,” the armed group said in a communicated. In total, seven members of the Revolutionary Guard and six Syrians died in the bombing attributed to Israel on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, for which, as is usual in such cases, Israel did not claim responsibility.
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Iran on Sunday morning in support of the unprecedented drone and missile attack against Israel.
Western states, NATO, EU slam Iran’s strikes
On the other camp, the US, EU, NATO, and Western states condemned the Iran’s missile attack.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “condemns the escalation of Iran” which carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel on Saturday and “urges restraint”, so that the current “conflict in the Middle East does not become uncontrollable”, a carrier of word of the Alliance, informs AFP.
“We condemn Iran’s escalation during the night, urge restraint and closely follow the evolution of the situation. It is essential that the current conflict in the Middle East does not become uncontrollable”, emphasized the spokeswoman, Farah Dakhlallah, in a statement.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Sunday condemned the unprecedented attack launched by Iran on Israel during the night and appealed to both sides to show caution, reports dpa. “I strongly condemn Iran’s brutal and unjustified attack on Israel. And I ask Iran and its accomplices to stop the attacks immediately. All actors must now refrain from further escalation and act to restore stability in the region,” von der Leyen wrote on the X platform.
Iran “absolutely deliberately” brought the Middle East “to the brink” after firing hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, said on Sunday, AFP informs. The Iranian regime “almost plunged an entire region into chaos,” Baerbock emphasized during a brief speech in Berlin. At the same time, she urged “all actors in the region to act with caution”, because “the spiral of escalation must be broken”.
Iohannis: Romania condemns Iran’s attack
Klaus Iohannis claims that Romania condemns Iran’s attack on Israel, in a message posted on Sunday on the X platform. “Romania condemns in the strongest terms Iran’s attack against Israel. We stand in full solidarity with the Israeli people in these difficult times. We appeal to avoid a new regional escalation,” the Romanian president said.
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