Iran releases terrifying new video of attack on Israel | World | News
Iran has released a video showcasing its recent attack on Israeli territory. The video, released on Sunday, depicts a barrage of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles being launched towards Israeli territory.
Israel has hailed its air defences, claiming to have successfully thwarted 99 percent of the more than 300 projectiles launched by Iran and its allies. The attack, which Israel describes as unprecedented, has raised concerns of further escalation in the region, particularly if Israel were to retaliate.
US President Joe Biden has responded by announcing plans to convene a meeting of the Group of Seven advanced democracies to coordinate a diplomatic response to Iran’s actions.
Biden’s administration appears intent on avoiding a broader military conflict, with assurances that the US does not plan on striking Iran itself.
The attack by Iran is believed to be in retaliation for a recent strike on an Iranian consular building in Syria, which resulted in the deaths of two Iranian generals. Israel has stated that Iran launched a substantial assault, involving 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles.
By Sunday morning, Iran said the attack was over and Israel reopened its air space.
The two foes have for years been engaged in a shadow war marked by incidents like the Damascus strike. But Sunday’s assault, which set off air raid sirens across Israel, was the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Israel has over the years established – often with the help of the United States — a multilayered air-defence network that includes systems capable of intercepting a variety of threats including long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range rockets.
That system, along with collaboration with the US and others, helped thwart what could have been a far more devastating assault at a time when Israel is already bogged down in its war against Hamas in Gaza and engaged in low-level fighting on its northern border with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a short message on X, formerly Twitter: “We intercepted. We blocked. Together, we will win.”
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also celebrated the results, thanking the US and other countries for their assistance.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Last night Iran launched a barrage of missiles and attack drones across the Middle East towards Israel, in a dangerous and unnecessary escalation which I’ve condemned in the strongest terms.
“Thanks to an international co-ordinated effort which the United Kingdom participated in, almost all of these missiles were intercepted saving lives not just in Israel but in Jordan as well.”
He praised RAF pilots “flying into the face of danger to protect civilians”.