What happened?
- Iran launched a retaliatory attack on Israel, involving a swarm of explosive drones and missiles, in response to an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed several Iranian officers, including two generals. [aljazeera.net, arabnews.com, aawsat.com, cnn.com, ft.com, foxnews.com]
- The US military helped Israel take down “nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles” fired by Iran and its proxies. [ft.com, foxnews.com]
- Israel has activated five layers of air defense, including the “David’s Sling” medium-range system and the “Patriot” and “Arrow-2” and “Arrow-3” systems, with the latter still under testing. [aljazeera.net]
- At least one military base in southern Israel was hit, and a child was injured. [newsweek.com]
- The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the “severe and dangerous escalation” and “flagrant violation of Israel’s sovereignty.” [aljazeera.net, aawsat.com, arabnews.com, cnn.com, ft.com]
- International world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, collectively condemned Iran’s drone and missile attacks on Israel, calling for peace in the Middle East and a united diplomatic response. [foxnews.com, ft.com]
- Despite his current tensions with Netanyahu over the war in Gaza, Biden and his top officials have sought over the past week to diminish any daylight between the US and Israel when it comes to Israel’s defense against Iran. [cnn.com]
What is Arab media saying:
- The Iranian army commander said Iran will start the second phase of the attacks if Israel responds to the initial strike, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted specific locations within the occupied territories with dozens of missiles and drones. [aawsat.com]
- Iran has various missile systems, including cruise and hypersonic missiles, which can reach Israel within about two hours and 13 minutes, respectively, but Iran did not use hypersonic missiles in this strike and may be holding them for any future retaliation. [aljazeera.net]
- Saudi Arabia expressed deep concern over the military escalation and urged all parties to exercise restraint. [arabnews.com]
What is Israeli media saying?
- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that the world saw what Iran is capable of, and that Israel is on guard and ready for every scenario. The attack came from 1,500 kilometers away, including attempts to use all of Iran’s proxies against Israel, but the most significant wave of Iranian attacks had been stopped. [jpost.com]
- Gallant said that together with US and other allies’ partnership, Israel succeeded in keeping the impact of the attack in the territory of the State of Israel small, an impressive accomplishmen. [jpost.com]
- The Iranian strike on Israel today resembled Russian attacks on Ukraine, according to an analysis from the Institute for the Study of War. [timesofisrael.com]
Sources:
- Al Jazeera
- Arab News
- Asharq Al Awsat
- CNN
- Financial Times
- Fox News
- Jerusalem Post
- The Times of Israel