Iran’s attack on Israel: the night Tehran sent drones and missiles against the Jewish state

Until now, Iran has only attacked Israel through its allies. But on this Saturday evening, a new milestone was reached: the first direct attack ever carried out by the Islamic Republic against the Jewish State, its arch enemy.

Around 8 pm in France, Tehran launched an offensive using drones and missiles, unprecedented in the history of this conflict. Soon after, Iran’s allies, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, also carried out anti-Israeli attacks: the former fired missiles towards Israel, the latter launched drones towards Israeli territory.

About an hour after the announcement of the start of Operation Honest Promise, the official Irna Agency in Tehran confirmed the launch of the “first wave of ballistic missiles.” In total, “the Revolutionary Guards’ air force fired dozens of missiles and drones at specific targets” against Israel, state television reported, citing the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army.

Iran asked Washington to “stay away” from the conflict? The American response was completely different: the United States, which has a significant number of troops in the region, said it had shot down several Iranian drones. Early Sunday morning, shortly after midnight, several explosions were heard in the skies over Jerusalem, where warning sirens sounded several times. The footage shows Iron Dome in action, deploying anti-missile batteries.

Meeting of Netanyahu’s war cabinet in the bunker

The Israeli army assured that Iran launched more than 200 drones and missiles, the “vast majority” of which were intercepted without serious consequences. Only one military base suffered “minor damage,” the spokesman said. Israeli emergency services said teams treated about thirty people suffering from anxiety or minor injuries.

For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gathered his staff and close associates in the bunker, and US President Joe Biden assured the Israeli ally of his “unwavering” support.

Jordan and Lebanon, Israel’s neighbors, quickly closed their airspace, as did Iraq, which borders Iran. According to Reuters, the Jordanians even participated in the interception of Iranian drones. Other media have mentioned the involvement of Saudi fighter jets, information that paints a complex map of alliances in the Middle East.

The British government sent additional fighter jets, while Paris condemned the Iranian attack and Berlin believed it could plunge the region “into chaos.”

How will Israel react?

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which does not recognize the existence of Israel, is an ally of Hamas, the author of the unprecedented bloody attack on October 7 that marked the beginning of Israel’s disastrous intervention in the Gaza Strip. For decades, the two countries have been locked in a hidden war, particularly around the Revolutionary Guards, Tehran’s ideological army that, among other things, helped create Hezbollah, the movement that wages armed struggle against Israel.

Between attacks on Israeli and Jewish interests abroad and the arms race, the struggle is also being waged – and above all – around the Iranian nuclear program. In July 2015, Tehran entered into an agreement with major international powers to regulate it. But “Israel is not bound by this agreement (…) because Iran continues to want our destruction,” warned the then prime minister, one Benjamin Netanyahu.

Once again, eyes are on whoever is still prime minister. After this unprecedented attack, will there be a strike directly on Iranian soil? Will it target the nuclear infrastructure that worries the Israelis so much? The next few hours promise to be decisive, with IDF military officials already promising a “decisive” and “unprecedented” response. In the middle of the night, underscoring the urgency of the situation, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was announced for this Sunday at 17:00.