JERUSALEM (AP) – A confrontation between Israel and the Iran-backed groups Hezbollah and Hamas that started almost a year ago saw a major increase on Tuesday when Iran fired dozens of missiles into Israel, raising the possibility of a regional war in the Middle East.
As millions of Israelis hurried into bomb shelters and air raid sirens screamed throughout the nation, missiles sped over the country’s night sky, emitting an orange glow. The incident elevated the considerable prospect of an Israeli response.
Prior to Iran’s attack, Israel has dealt Hezbollah’s leadership in Lebanon a number of devastating blows in recent weeks. It then launched what it claimed was a modest ground operation in southern Lebanon, increasing the pressure on the militant group that has been firing rockets into Israel since the start of the Gaza War. Israel has declared that until it is safe for its civilians to return from their homes along the border with Lebanon, it will keep hitting Hezbollah. Hezbollah has sworn that unless there is a cease-fire in Gaza, it will continue to launch rockets into Israel.
Israel vowed retaliation for Iran’s missile barrage, which it said had caused only a few injuries.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the country’s air defenses intercepted many of the incoming missiles, though some landed in central and southern Israel.
“This strike will have consequences,” he said. He said the attack had caused only “very few” injuries, but did not elaborate.
Israel and Iran have fought a shadow war for years, but rarely have they come into direct conflict.
Israel considers Iran to be its greatest foe — citing Iran’s repeated calls for Israel’s destruction, its support for Arab militant groups and its nuclear program. Iran denies Israeli accusations that it is developing a nuclear weapon.
Moments before Iran launched its missiles, a shooting attack in Tel Aviv left six people dead, police said, adding that the two suspects who had opened fire on a boulevard in the Jaffa neighborhood had also been killed.
The United States had warned there would be severe consequences for Iran in the event of an attack on Israel. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris monitored the attack on Israel from the White House Situation Room.
Iran launched another direct attack on Israel in April, but few of its projectiles reached their targets. Many were shot down by a U.S.-led coalition, while others apparently failed at launch or crashed in flight.
Iran said it fired the missiles into Israel as retaliation for attacks that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. It referenced Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, both killed in an Israeli airstrike last week in Beirut. It also mentioned Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader in Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran in a suspected Israeli attack in July.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel said it had begun limited ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire pounded southern Lebanese villages, and Hezbollah responded with a barrage of rockets into Israel. There was no immediate word on casualties.
While Hezbollah denied Israeli troops had entered Lebanon, the Israeli army announced it had also carried out dozens of ground raids into southern Lebanon going back nearly a year.
If true, it would be another humiliating blow for Hezbollah, the most powerful armed group in the Middle East. Hezbollah has been reeling from weeks of targeted strikes that killed Nasrallah and several of his top commanders.
On Tuesday morning, Israel warned people in southern Lebanon to evacuate to the north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and much farther than the Litani River, which marks the northern edge of a U.N.-declared zone intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after their 2006 war.
The border region has largely emptied out over the past year as the two sides have traded fire. But the scope of the evacuation warning raised questions as to how deep Israel plans to send its forces into Lebanon.
Questions raised over whether Israeli forces entered
An Associated Press reporter saw Israeli troops operating near the border in armored trucks, with helicopters circling overhead, but could not confirm ground forces had crossed into Lebanon.
Questions raised over whether Israeli forces entered
An Associated Press reporter saw Israeli troops operating near the border in armored trucks, with helicopters circling overhead, but could not confirm ground forces had crossed into Lebanon.
Ahead of the Israeli announcement of an incursion, U.S. officials on Monday said Israel had described launching small ground raids inside Lebanon as it prepared for a wider operation.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has seen sporadic incursions by Israeli military forces, but “they have not witnessed a full-scale invasion.”
Hagari said Israel had carried out dozens of small raids inside Lebanon since Oct. 8, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel after the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Hagari said Israeli forces had crossed the border to collect information and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, including tunnels and weapons. Israel has said Hezbollah was preparing its own Oct. 7-style attack into Israel. It was not immediately possible to confirm those claims.
Hagari said Israel’s aims for its ground offensive in Lebanon were limited. “We’re not going to Beirut,” he said.
The Israeli military was accused of lying to media in 2021 when it released a statement implying ground troops had entered Gaza. The military played down the incident as a misunderstanding, but well-sourced military commentators in Israel said it was part of a ruse to lure Hamas into battle.
Israel strikes more targets and Hezbollah fires rockets
The Israeli military official said Hezbollah had launched rockets at central Israel on Tuesday, setting off air raid sirens and wounding a man. Hezbollah said it fired salvos of a new kind of medium-range missile at the headquarters of two Israeli intelligence agencies near Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military official said Hezbollah had also launched projectiles at Israeli communities near the border, targeting soldiers without wounding anyone.
Israel’s statements indicated it might focus its ground operation on the narrow strip along the border, rather than launching a larger invasion aimed at destroying Hezbollah, as it has attempted in Gaza against Hamas.
Hezbollah and Hamas are close allies backed by Iran, and each escalation has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East that could draw in Iran and the United States, which has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.
Israeli strikes have killed over 1,000 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
Hezbollah is a well-trained militia, believed to have tens of thousands of fighters and an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles. The last round of fighting in 2006 ended in a stalemate, and both sides have spent the past two decades preparing for their next showdown.
Israel has strong insider knowledge of Hezbollah’s upper echelons, as evidenced by recent airstrikes that have destroyed the majority of the organization’s top leadership and the explosions of hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies.
On Monday, Naim Kassem, the group’s acting leader, announced that the Hezbollah commanders who were slain in recent weeks had already been replaced. European nations have started evacuating their nationals and ambassadors from Lebanon as the war worsens.
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