Rockets fly in the sky, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Tel Aviv on October 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

Alarms sounded across Israel and explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River Valley after Israelis piled into bomb shelters. Reporters on state television lay flat on the ground during live broadcasts.

Reuters journalists saw missiles intercepted in the airspace of neighbouring Jordan. Israeli military said Iran fired around 180 missiles. “IDF (Israeli Army) systems have identified approximately 180 missiles fired towards Israeli territory from Iran,” it said.

Earlier, the military had announced that any ballistic missile strike from Iran was expected to be widespread and told the public to shelter in safe rooms in the event of an attack.

Iran has vowed to retaliate following attacks that killed the top leadership of its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. The firing of missiles came after Israel said its troops had launched ground raids into Lebanon, though it described the forays as limited.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to carry out “crushing attacks” against Israel if it retaliated for the missile attack.

“If the Zionist regime reacts to Iranian operations, it will face crushing attacks,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement carried by the Fars news agency.

The IRGC said the attack was “in accordance with the United Nations Charter”.

It said it came “after a period of restraint” following an “attack on the sovereignty” of Iran — a reference to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July.

After the attack, Iran suspended flights at Tehran international airport, Iranian media reported late Tuesday.

“For the time being, we have suspended incoming and outgoing flights at Tehran International Airport,” the ISNA news agency quoted airport chief Said Chalandari as saying.

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Hamas praised Iran’s missile attack as “heroic”.

“The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) blesses the heroic rocket launches carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran against wide areas of our occupied lands,” a statement said, adding it was “in revenge for the blood of our heroic martyr”.

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.S. was prepared to help Israel defend itself from Iranian missile attacks. “We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region,” Mr. Biden said on X about a meeting held with Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House national security team earlier in the day.

Iran has fired missiles at Israel and all civilians in the country are in bomb shelters, the Israeli military said on Tuesday. The attack comes amid Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon to target Hezbollah and days after the militant outfit’s commander Hassan Nasrallah and a top official from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in Israel strikes in Beirut.  

The Israeli foreign ministry also cited the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and said at 10.08 pm IST that the missiles were fired a “short while ago”. The launch was confirmed by Iran’s official IRNA news agency, which said the country had launched “a missile attack on Tel Aviv”. News agency Reuters quoted Israeli media as saying that as many as 100 missiles had been launched.

Videos showed debris from missiles intercepted by Israel’s famed Iron Dome and Arrow defence systems raining down on Tel Aviv. The Israeli defence forces also confirmed that blasts had been heard in “Jerusalem and elsewhere”. There have been no reports of any casualties so far. 

“Iran’s attack is continuing. You are requested to remain in a protected space until further notice. The explosions you are hearing are from interceptions or fallen projectiles,” the army said in a statement to Israelis, a report by news agency AFP said. 

All Israeli civilians are in bomb shelters as rockets from Iran are fired at Israel. pic.twitter.com/bKXPdqMsBr

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 1, 2024

“A short while ago, missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel. Israelis are instructed to remain alert and precisely follow the Home Front Command’s instructions,” the Israeli foreign ministry’s handle said in a post on X. 

“In the last few minutes, the Home Front Command has distributed life-saving instructions in various areas across the country. The IDF is doing and will do everything necessary to protect the civilians of the State of Israel,” it said.

The news of the missiles being launched came shortly after reports of a suspected “terror” shooting in Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv. Police in the city said at least four people were killed.