Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel, forcing the entire civilian population of the Jewish state to be ordered into bomb shelters, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday night.
The Islamic Republic fired more than 180 missiles, according to updated reports in Israeli media. No drones were launched during the assault.
“Missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel. You are instructed to remain alert and precisely follow the Home Front Command’s instructions,” the IDF said around 7.30 p.m.
The military wrote on X that “all Israeli civilians” were sheltering from the attack.
🔴 Watch: Iranian missiles target Jews, Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City.
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) October 1, 2024
We will take every measure necessary to protect the people of Israel. pic.twitter.com/T23PZPImgv
At 8:26 p.m., the IDF’s Home Front Command sent out phone alerts saying that at this stage, everyone could leave their protected spaces.
A few minutes later, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, announced there were no further threats from Iran at the present time.
“We are on heightened alert on defense and offensive, we will protect the citizens of Israel. This [missile] fire will have consequences. We have plans, and we will act in the time and place that we choose,” he vowed.
Hagari asked Israelis to remain vigilant.
Israeli security officials said the country’s Air Force could retaliate “powerfully” in the region as early as Tuesday night.
The Security Cabinet, which is responsible for defense-related decisions and composed of senior ministers, met in the government bunker in Jerusalem for the first time since the start of the war as the Iranian missile attack concluded, the Kan News public broadcaster said.
“The air-defense system is fully operational, detecting and intercepting threats wherever necessary, even at this moment,” Hagari said. “However, the defense is not hermetic.”
American forces are ready to provide “additional defensive support” to Israel after helping shoot down some of the missiles fired by Iran on Tuesday night, a U.S. defense official told the AFP news agency.
“Our forces remain postured to provide additional defensive support and to protect U.S. forces operating in the region,” the official stated.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jerusalem informed Washington that an attack from Iran was imminent. A direct Iranian attack on Israel will carry “severe consequences” for the Islamic Republic, a senior White House official told JNS.
The targets of the Iranian attack were believed to be three Israeli Air Force bases, as well as an IDF military intelligence headquarters just north of Tel Aviv, which was evacuated on Tuesday, according to three Israeli officials cited by The New York Times.
The United States Embassy in Jerusalem sent its employees home on Tuesday afternoon and told them to be prepared to enter bomb shelters, the first such order given in recent months.
In April, Iran conducted its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, launching some 300 missiles and drones, the vast majority of which were shot down in a multinational effort. It said it attacked in retaliation for an April 1 strike that killed a top Iranian general in Damascus.
In recent months, Iran and its allies have vowed to avenge the alleged Israeli killing in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s “political” bureau, and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, slain by Israel in a targeted killing in Beirut on Sept. 27.
Iranian state media retracted reports on Tuesday night that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would lead Friday prayer in Tehran this week and deliver a sermon on the war with the Jewish state.
Khamenei remained in a secure location after the attack on Israel, a senior Iranian official told the Reuters press agency. He was moved to a secure location after the death of Nasrallah last week.
