TEHRAN: Iran Sunday launched a massive retaliatory assault on Israel using ballistic missiles and drones targeting key cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa, Arab media outlets reported.
According to reports, Iran fired between 20 to 40 ballistic missiles during the coordinated attack. The barrage caused direct damage to several buildings across multiple cities, with northern coastal
areas such as Mount Carmel also being hit.
The strikes triggered air raid sirens across more than 400 Israeli towns and cities, forcing residents into shelters and creating panic throughout the country.
Arab media confirmed that significant explosions were heard in Tel Aviv and Haifa, with videos circulating on social platforms showing widespread damage to infrastructure.
Iranian officials, in a defiant tone, declared, “You started this. We will finish it,” signalling a dangerous escalation in the ongoing conflict.
The assault follows growing tensions in the region and is being described by analysts as one of the most serious military actions between the two nations in recent memory.
Iran says targeted Ben Gurion airport, other sites in attack on Israel
Iran’s armed forces said Sunday they targeted multiple sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport, after US attacks on key nuclear sites in the Islamic republic.
“The twentieth wave of Operation Honest Promise 3 began using a combination of long-range liquid and solid fuel missiles with devastating warhead power,” the armed forces said in a statement quoted by Fars news agency. The targets included the airport, a “biological research centre”, logistics bases and various layers of command and control centres, it added.
Three areas of Israel including coastal hub Tel Aviv were hit Sunday morning during waves of Iranian missile attacks, with at least 23 people injured, according to rescue services and police.
Several buildings were heavily damaged in the Ramat Aviv area in Tel Aviv, with holes torn in the facades of apartment blocks.
“Houses here were hit very, very badly,” Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai told reporters at the scene. “Fortunately, one of them was slated for demolition and reconstruction, so there were no residents inside.
“Those who were in the shelter are all safe and well. The damage is very, very extensive, but in terms of human life, we are okay.”
The Israeli police said in a statement that they had been deployed to at least two other impact sites, one in Haifa in the north and another in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv.
A public square in a residential area of Haifa was left strewn with rubble and surrounding shops and homes have been heavily damaged, AFP photos showed.
Eli Bin, the head of Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom, told reporters that a total of 23 people had been wounded nationwide in the attacks, with “two in moderate condition and the rest lightly injured.”
Sirens rang across the country, with air defences activated shortly afterwards, causing loud explosions heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Israeli police reported “the fall of weapon fragments” in a northern area encompassing the port of Haifa, where local authorities said emergency services were heading to an “accident site”.
Reporting on missile strikes is subject to strict military censorship rules in Israel, but at least 50 impacts have been officially acknowledged nation-wide and 25 people have been killed since the war began with Iran on June 13, according to official figures.
