What will be the Israeli response?
What is President Biden going to do?
Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening in an assault that was mostly thwarted, according to the Israeli authorities, but one that made the prospect of a direct all-out war between two of the more powerful militaries in the Middle East more likely.
The offensive left the region on edge awaiting a potential Israeli response.
“Iran made a big mistake tonight — and it will pay for it,” Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said in a statement late on Tuesday. “The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and to retaliate against our enemies.”
Iran fired about 180 missiles during its assault, the Israeli military said, a significant barrage that forced millions to take cover in bomb shelters. But by midnight, restrictions on gatherings in parts of Israel, including around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, had been lifted, signaling that another wave was not immediately anticipated.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement that the country had attacked Israel in retaliation for recent assassinations. In July, Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed by a bomb while he was in Tehran, the Iranian capital. Then, on Friday, Israeli warplanes killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, with an airstrike near Beirut.
Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s top military officer, said on state television that the missiles had targeted three military bases and the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service….
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Here is what else to know:
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U.S. response: President Biden said on Tuesday that the U.S. military “actively supported” Israel’s defense. He added, “Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.” His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters that American naval destroyers had joined Israel in shooting down inbound missiles after “meticulous joint planning in anticipation of the attack.” The Pentagon said on Monday that it was sending “several thousand” more U.S. troops to the region, adding to its force of some 40,000 already in the area.
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Recent history: Iran last attacked Israel in April, but Israel — with help from the United States, Jordan and others — intercepted most 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.
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Shooting in Tel Aviv: The Israeli authorities said at least six people had been killed and several more injured after two gunmen opened fire on a light rail train in Tel Aviv as residents sought shelter from a looming Iranian attack. The police called the attack an act of terrorism.
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Leaving Lebanon: The State Department is working with airlines to “provide more seats” for American citizens who want to leave Lebanon, as the United States has urged them to do, according to Matthew Miller, the department’s spokesman.
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Gaza losses: Israel continued to fight Hamas, another Iranian proxy, in Gaza, with the military announcing early on Wednesday morning that it had struck two former school compounds in the northern Gaza Strip that it said were being used as Hamas “command and control centers” for terrorist attacks. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, at least 23 people were killed between Monday and Tuesday afternoon. The war in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials….
US warships shot down some of the Iranian missile’s fired at Israel….
President Biden said on Tuesday afternoon that U.S. forces helped Israel shoot down waves of incoming missiles from an Iranian attack, rendering the assault “defeated and ineffective” in a show of solidarity between two allies whose relations have been deeply strained by the escalating conflicts in the Middle East.
Mr. Biden, who spent several hours in the White House Situation Room monitoring the attack, said American naval forces stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea had defended Israel “at my direction,” and he praised intensive planning between the two nations to anticipate the barrage.
“Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel,” Mr. Biden told reporters hours after the attack.
The firm embrace marked a striking shift in tone for a relationship that has become increasingly tense as Israel has marched ahead with aggressive military action since the attacks by Hamas nearly a year ago that American officials fear could escalate into a full-scale, destabilizing war in the Middle East….
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Pentagon officials said the military effort to defend Israel on Tuesday came from two U.S. naval destroyers, the U.S.S. Bulkeley and the U.S.S. Cole, which together launched a dozen interceptors against the Iranian missiles. Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said none of the 40,000 American troops in the region were hurt in the attacks.
One U.S. official said the destroyers knocked down “a handful” of Iranian missiles with the dozen interceptors, suggesting that more than one interceptor was fired at each incoming missile from Iran.
Several of the missiles were seen exploding in Israel….
Oct 1, 2024 – ISW Press
Iran launched a two-wave ballistic missile attack that targeted Israel from Iranian territory on October 1. Iran claimed to launch this attack in response to Israel’s killing of senior Axis of Resistance leaders including Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, and Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran launched approximately 180 ballistic missiles, including Emad and Ghadr ballistic missiles, from Iranian territory. Iran claimed to launch its domestically produced hypersonic medium-range “Fattah-2” ballistic missile for the first time in the October 1 attack.
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