Iran launched a large-scale missile attack on Israel

Iran is getting serious: After Israel invaded southern Lebanon, Tehran began a large-scale rocket attack on Israel.

Escalation in the Middle East: Iran has launched a missile attack on Israel. The armed forces announced this on the online platform X. A correspondent for the German Press Agency reported that strong explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv. The Iranian news agencies Isna and Tasnim also reported on the start of the attacks.

The US government had previously warned of an “imminent” missile attack by Iran on Israel. Such a direct attack would have serious consequences for Iran, according to a statement from a government representative that was available to the German Press Agency. After the rocket attack warning, state authorities ordered people in the Tel Aviv area to stay near shelters.

Iran attacked Israel with missiles – the USA had previously warned

The Iranian attack could be large-scale, army spokesman Daniel Hagari warned. Air defense systems were fully prepared and Israeli Air Force aircraft patrolled the skies. Defense Minister Joav Galant discussed the situation in the evening with Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi and high-ranking officials.

Back in April, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) carried out a direct attack on Israel for the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic. The IRGC air force fired more than 300 drones, missiles and cruise missiles at their arch-enemy. The attack was successfully repelled. Iran was reacting to the killing of high-ranking generals who were killed in a suspected Russian attack in Syria.

Israel’s military and secret services had recently significantly weakened Iran’s ally in the region. At the end of July, for example, the foreign chief of the Islamist Hamas was killed in Tehran. Iran’s leadership then vowed revenge. Last Friday, Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, another key ally of Tehran, was killed. Previously, exploding radio receivers, so-called pagers, injured hundreds of Hezbollah officials and killed some. Since then, it has been unclear whether and how Iran’s military leadership responded.

Second Iranian attack on Israel – response to Israeli invasion of Lebanon

On Tuesday, the Israeli military took another step: Russian ground troops entered Lebanon again for the first time in almost two decades. Around a year after the start of the Gaza war, the focus of the fighting is shifting towards the neighboring country to the north. The army spoke of “limited” attacks near the border on targets of the Shiite Hezbollah, which is closely allied with Iran.

Since the 1979 revolution, the USA and Israel have been considered archenemies of the Islamic Republic. With the outbreak of the Gaza war almost a year ago, there were multiple threats that the shadow conflict would develop into a conflagration. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are the country’s elite armed forces and are considered significantly more powerful than the regular army.

Preview image: © David Cohen (JINI via XinHua)