In response to Israel’s attack on Iran’s consulate building in Syria early this month, the Islamic Republic launched a swarm of drones and missiles to Israel this Sunday morning.
In the early hours of this Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) launched a massive retaliatory attack against Israel by firing dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as a massive swarm of drones as part of what Iran called the “Operation True Promise.”
The attack was a response to Israel’s last week airstrike against Iran’s consulate building in Syria that killed 7 of the top members of the IRGC. The sound of multiple explosions was heard over the city of Jerusalem in the early hours of Sunday local time, with air raid sirens sounded in the city as well as across Israel including in northern Israel, southern Israel, the northern West Bank and the Dead Sea near the Jordanian border.
The unprecedented revenge mission marked the first time that Tehran has launched a direct military attack on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
US, France and UK condemn Iran’s attack, but not Israel’s!
While preferring to remain silent when Israel attacked Iran’s consulate building last week, a move that was contrary to international law, leaders of France, UK and the United States were quick to react to Iran’s Sunday strike against Israel.
Condemning Iran for the attack, France said that “Iran has crossed a new threshold with regard to its destabilizing activities and is risking a potential military escalation.” Similarly, the UK government issued a statement following the attack and called it a called “reckless” move that can further plunge the region into war and instability.
US President Joe Biden also rebuked the “unprecedented” air attacks by Iran and its proxies against military facilities in Israel and said he “will convene G-7 leaders Sunday to coordinate a united response.”
“Iran and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel,” Biden said.
Iran had the right to retaliate Israel’s attack!
Following Iran’s attack no Israel, the Iranian permanent mission to the UN announced via a post on X that the retaliation to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus “can be deemed concluded.”
“Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus,” the statement noted, adding that any other “mistake” from Israel would warrant a “more severe” response and warning the US to “stay away.”
Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Israel all closed their airspace as the Islamic Republic started its retaliatory strikes. In conjunction with the Iranian operation, the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah launched heavy rocket barrages toward the occupied Golan heights. Iraqi resistance factions and the Yemeni armed forces also launched attacks against Israel, marking a coordinated action of the Axis of Resistance.
Havoc inside Israel after Iran’s attack!
Less than one hour after Iran’s attack, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a war cabinet meeting and spoke to President Biden a hour later, according to Israeli media sources. During the phone call with Biden, Netanyahu said the US President had reaffirmed “America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel”.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said some Iranian missiles had hit inside Israel, causing damage to a military base but no casualties.
Israeli military said that with the help of its “partners across the region”, it had intercepted the majority of over 200 killer drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles that Iran and its proxies launched towards Israel. However, Israel’s ambulance service said a seven-year-old Bedouin girl had been injured by shrapnel from falling debris in the southern Arad region. No latest figure of the casualties of the attack has yet been put out by Israeli authorities.
