IRAN has vowed to unleash another barrage of drones and missiles on Israel if the country retaliates for last night’s rain of fire.
The world is on tenterhooks waiting to see how PM Benjamin Netanyahu will respond to Iran launching its an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil.
ReutersIsraeli Air Force F-15 Eagle is pictured at an air base after an interception mission of an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel[/caption]
ReutersExplosions are seen in the skies above Jerusalem on Saturday night[/caption]
RexA drone is launched in an undisclosed area in Iran as Iran launches dozens of drones at Israel[/caption]
ReutersA RAF Typhoon aircraft takes off to conduct air strikes against military targets in Yemen[/caption]
Booming explosions were heard in the skies above Jerusalem late last night, as air sirens wailed and terrified residents ran to bomb shelters.
More than 300 drones and missiles were launched at Israel by Iran and its proxy groups in Lebanon and Yemen – 99 per cent of which were intercepted, according to Israeli military.
Israeli military scrambled dozens of fighter jets to intercept “all aerial threats” after Iran fired 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles, and 110 ballistic missiles at the country.
Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, said the attack is being viewed as a “declaration of war” and world leaders need to “make it clear” to Iran that its behaviour is “unacceptable”.
World leaders are holding urgent talks today amid fears of a further escalation in the conflict if Israel does strike back against Tehran.
Britain’s RAF helped down “a number” of attack drones over the Iraq-Syrian border, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed on Sunday.
Mr Sunak said the barrage of missiles and attack drones was “a dangerous and unnecessary escalation” in the Middle Eastern conflict.
Several ballistic missiles did reach Israeli territory, wounding a girl and causing minor damage to a military base in the south.
The attack was Iran‘s first full-scale military assault against Israel and came after an Israeli strike on its Syrian consulate in Damascus killed seven of Iran’s feared Revolutionary Guard officers on April 1.
Iran said any “reckless” retaliation to last night’s unprecedented aerial attack would be met with a “much stronger response”.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi raged: “If the Zionist regime [Israel] or its supporters demonstrate reckless behaviour, they will receive a decisive and much stronger response”.
It is not yet clear how Israel will respond to Tehran’s volley of kamikaze drones and missiles.
But there are fears the escalating tensions between the feuding countries will plunge the Middle East into an all-out war with the UK and US drawn further into the conflict.
Israel’s war cabinet is meeting today for crunch talks, weighing the country’s response and discussing whether to “break all dishes” in its response to Iran, according to officials.
Despite thwarting Iran’s attack with the help of its allies, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said the nation “must be prepared for every scenario”.
Some members of the three-man cabinet had proposed an immediate retaliatory strike against Tehran.
But the rash move was called off due to growing pressure from US President Mr Biden, reports the New York Times.
Mr Biden has told Mr Netanyahu that the US will not participate in any offensive operations.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most powerful branch of its armed forces, said it launched last night’s attack “in retaliation against the Zionist regime’s [Israel] repeated crimes, including the attack on the Iranian embassy’s consulate in Damascus”.
The Iranian mission told the UN after the strikes that “the matter can be deemed concluded”.
Tensions between Iran and Israel could quickly turn nuclear and spark World War Three, according to a disturbing war simulation crafted by military and security experts.
The chilling step-by-step potential scenario begins with Iran and its terror proxies using powerful long-range, high-precision rockets to hit key Israeli targets.
If the conflict unfolds according to the outline, Israel will hit back and fight off Iranian proxies near its border while striking Iran by air.
Tel Aviv will then appeal to the US for intervention, to no avail, and find itself isolated in its fight against Iran.
It will then try – and fail – to make Iran surrender with a non-lethal nuclear detonation, before launching 50 nuclear weapons at Iran.
Iran will subsequently unleash its own nuclear ambush against an air base with US troops.
The disturbing war game simulation ends with a major conflict involving Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen – although experts say the West will also likely become embroiled in a nuclear stalemate between Israel and Iran.
Mr Sunak said on Sunday that the world needs “calm heads to prevail” and that the UK would be working with its allies to “de-escalate the situation”.
I WAS IN JERUSALEM HOTEL WHEN IRAN LAUNCHED ITS ATTACK
By David Ross, Head of Video for The Sun, in Jerusalem
THE ALERTS came through on our phones after we arrived back at the hotel in central Jerusalem.
Like many others, we headed to our room knowing that Iran had just launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles in our direction.
Then, at 2am, we heard two enormous booms, followed soon after by emergency sirens.
Every Israeli knows the drill but for my wife Jess and I, it was the first time we’d experienced anything like it.
They call it terror for a reason: because it is terrifying. There’s a bizarre adrenaline rush too.
You don’t have no time to think and you act on instinct.
It’s about grabbing any clothing you can and dressing as you quickly move to the safety of a shelter.
We headed below ground to Level -4 and remained there as the sirens continued to blare all around us.
After what felt like a lifetime – but was probably only 20 minutes – we were given the all-clear to return to our rooms.
Our hearts were racing as the footage of what was happening overhead exploded over X and the TV news channels.
We huddled together, glued to the latest developments.
By the time it was all over, the Israel Defence Forces managed to intercept 99% of the drones and surface-to-surface missiles.
A combination of the Arrow Aerial Defence System, the Iron Dome, Israeli aircraft and warplanes from the UK and US had saved countless lives – ours included.
ReutersIsrael’s anti-missile system is employed after Iran’s attack[/caption]
The world is on tenterhooks waiting to see how Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will respond to Iran’s attack
Footage taken from an RAF Typhoon PoOD shows a targeted strike against two Houthi military targets in Yemen
AFPRockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City are intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome defence missile system in October[/caption]
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