After Iran’s massive missile attack on Israel this Tuesday, news agencies and officials of different countries addressed different dimensions of the incident.
Hours after Iran’s missile attack, Israel’s military announced that its missile defense systems had “intercepted a large number of the missiles.”
Likewise, a US defense official confirmed that the United States had also intercepted some of the missiles to help defend Israel. About 45 minutes after the attack ended, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it was safe for people across Israel to leave the shelters and that the military had “not detected any further air threats from Iran.”
Some American officials announced that nearly 200 missiles were fired from Iran toward Israel, while the Israeli army said since the start of Iran’s missile attack, the army’s systems have detected almost 180 missiles fired from Iran toward Israel.
Netanyahu reacted to Iran’s missile attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a failure” but promised that “Iran will pay for it.”
“The Iranian regime does not understand our determination to defend itself,” Netanyahu said, thanking the United States for providing defense assistance to Israel. Confirming US assistance to Israel in Tuesday’s attack, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said during a White House news conference that US Navy destroyers joined Israel in firing interceptor missiles to shoot down Iranian missiles.
An Israeli security official also said most of the missiles were intercepted “with the cooperation” of the US Air Force Central Command, but “several hits were detected and the damage is being assessed.”
While the Iranian missiles appeared to have caused no casualties, Israeli police said two gunmen opened fire on people on a road in Tel Aviv hours before the missiles were fired. The Associated Press quoted police as saying that six people were killed in the attack before the two suspects were killed.
The blasts from Iran’s missile attack came just hours after a senior White House official told CBS News that the United States had indications that Iran was preparing to launch a ballistic missile attack on Israel.
Israeli officials said they had been informed of the attack and they were aware it was coming. Before the Iranian missile attack, the Israeli army had intensified internal security measures in most areas of the country on Tuesday.
