Iran launched dozens of drones toward Israel late Saturday, Israeli and Iranian officials confirmed, in an unprecedented retaliation mission that pushed the Middle East further toward a region-wide war.
The Israeli military said more than 100 drones were fired, but its air defenses were prepared for the attack and ready to respond. The US, which has a large military presence in the region, has said it will provide unspecified support to Israel.
“We are monitoring the threat,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a nationally televised address, saying the drones would take several hours to reach Israel. The Israeli military said it could not confirm whether it intercepted any drones or what their targets were.
The attack marked the first time Iran has launched a full-scale military attack on Israel, despite decades of hostility in the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran vowed revenge after the April 1 events. airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in the Iranian consulate building. Iran accused Israel of involvement in the attack. Israel has not commented on this.
Israel and Iran were on a collision course during Israel’s six-month reign. war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped another 250. The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has caused widespread destruction and killed more than 33,000 people, according to local health officials.
Almost immediately after the war began, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, began attacking Israel’s northern border. Both sides engaged in daily firefights while Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen fired missiles and missiles toward Israel.
In a statement published late Saturday by Iran’s state news agency IRNA, the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard admitted launching “dozens of drones and missiles into occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.” The statement was not specified.
Online videos published by state television allegedly show delta-wing drones resembling the Iranian Shahed-136 drones long used by Russia in its war with Ukraine. Drones are bomb-carrying and low-flying. Ukraine has successfully used both surface-to-air missiles and ground fire to destroy drones.
Iran has a huge arsenal of drones and missiles. Tehran’s choice of Shahed 136 drones gives Israel and its allies hours to shoot them down. Iran does not appear to have used any of its ballistic missiles in an attack that would have posed a greater risk to Israel.
Israel has a multi-layered air defense network that includes systems capable of intercepting a variety of threats, including long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range missiles.
Hagari, the army spokesman, said Israel was “prepared and ready” for both defensive and offensive responses. However, he warned that air defenses are not 100% effective and urged the public to follow safety instructions.
Army Logistics Command canceled school on Sunday and limited public gatherings to no more than 1,000 people. Israel closed its airspace and canceled all flights.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them.”
In Washington, President Joe Biden cut short a weekend trip to his Delaware beach house to return to the White House. He was to convene a meeting of the National Security Council on Saturday to discuss the unfolding attack, the White House said.
“The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
Gen. Eric Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, was in Israel over the weekend consulting with Israeli defense officials about the Iranian threat. Central Command oversees US forces in the Middle East, while Israel maintains a huge arsenal including long-range missiles and F-35 stealth aircraft.
For days, Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have threatened to “slap” Israel for its attack on Syria.
In Iran’s capital Tehran, witnesses saw long lines at gas stations early Sunday as people appeared worried about what might happen next. Dozens of hardliners demonstrated in support of the attack in Palestine squares.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling at several locations in southern Lebanon following the launch of Iranian drones.
Flight tracking data late Saturday showed airspace over Jordan empty while few flights continued to fly north-south routes over Iraq. The only Middle East Airlines flight from Dubai to Beirut remained in the air over Syria. Lebanon closed its airspace.
Earlier on Saturday, commandos from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards descended from a helicopter onto an Israeli-linked container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that a special forces unit from the Guard’s navy carried out the attack on the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime.
Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to MSC. Geneva-based MSC acknowledged the hijacking and said there were 25 crew members on the ship.
“We are working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure their well-being and the safe return of the vessel,” MSC said.
White House spokesman Watson said the crew included citizens of India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Russia and Estonia, and called on Iran to release them and the ship.
IRNA said the Guard would direct the vessel into Iranian territorial waters.
A Middle Eastern defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, provided The Associated Press with a video of the attack that showed Iranian commandos rappelling onto a stack of containers on the deck of the ship.
The video matched known MSC Aries data. The commandos descended from a Soviet-era Mi-17 helicopter that both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have previously used to carry out raids on ships.