ESPERA QUE LOS BARBUDOS HAN LANZADO CENTENARES DE MISILES A TEL AVIV
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/10/01/world/israel-lebanon-hezbollah
Live Updates: Iran Launches About 200 Ballistic Missiles at Israel
The attack, which ended shortly after it began on Tuesday evening, was a sharp escalation in the long-simmering conflict between Israel and Iran and could tip the region further into turmoil.
Iran fired at least 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening, an attack that marks a sharp escalation in the long-simmering conflict between Israel and Iran and could tip the region further into turmoil and a full-blown war.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement that the missile attack had been in retaliation for the assassinations of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and an Iranian commander. The statement said Iran would launch more missiles if Iran were attacked.
A spokesman for the Israeli military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said a handful of missiles had landed in central and southern Israel, but most of the them had been intercepted. There were no immediate reports of casualties, he said. He said the attack appeared to be over by 8:30 p.m.
During the attack, air raid sirens sounded across Israel, including in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Loud booming explosions were heard above Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and flashes of light from the arcing intercepting rockets of Israel’s air defense system were visible.
The salvo of missiles from Iran came a day after Israeli forces began a rare ground invasion of southern Lebanon aimed at crippling the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah there. Iran backs Hezbollah and Hamas, the two militias currently fighting Israel, as well as the Houthis in Yemen.
A senior White House official said the United States would help defend Israel and warned that a direct attack against Israel “will carry severe consequences for Iran.”
The U.S. Embassy in Israel sent employees home and told them to be prepared to enter bomb shelters, the first such order in months.
Iran last attacked Israel in April, but Israel, with help from the United States, Jordan and others, intercepted almost all of the hundreds of missiles and drones fired at its territory. With the United States urging restraint, Israel’s response was muted; it fired at an air base near some of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but did not hit the facilities themselves.
Here is what else to know
U.S. troops: Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III spoke by phone with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of Israel on Tuesday, the Pentagon said in a statement, adding that Austin “made it clear that the United States is well postured to defend U.S. personnel, allies and partners in the face of threats from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist organizations.”
Behind the strike: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement that Iran had launched ballistic missiles on Israel in response to the assassinations of Hezbollah’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah; Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh; and an Iranian commander, and that it would launch more attacks if Israel attacked Iran.
Regional response: What sounded like celebratory gunfire could be heard across Beirut following news of the Iranian attack on Israel. The Israeli military has been conducting extensive airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in and near Beirut, including on Tuesday.
In Jordan: Witnesses said that loud explosions were heard in Amman, the capital of Jordan, a country sandwiched between Israel and Iran that helped intercept a launch from Iran on Israel in April.
Shooting in Tel Aviv: The Israeli emergency response service said at least eight people were killed and several more injured when two gunmen opened fire on a light rail train in Tel Aviv shortly after residents were urged to seek shelter from an Iranian missile attack. No group claimed immediate responsibility for the shooting on Tuesday night. The authorities described the shooting as a terrorist attack.
