U.S. vows to support Israel’s defense as Iran launches drone attack

Israel’s navy mentioned over 100 drones had been fired however that its air defenses have been ready for the assault and it was prepared to reply. The U.S., with its massive troop presence within the area, mentioned it will present unspecified assist to Israel.

“We’re monitoring the menace,” the Israeli navy’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, introduced in a nationwide tv deal with, saying it will take a number of hours for the drones to achieve Israel. The Israeli navy mentioned it couldn’t affirm if it had intercepted any drones or what their targets have been.

The assault marked the primary time Iran had ever launched a full-scale navy assault on Israel, regardless of a long time of enmity relationship again to the nation’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran had vowed revenge since an April 1 airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals inside an Iranian consular constructing. Iran accused Israel of being behind the assault. Israel hasn’t commented on it.

Israel and Iran have been on a collision course all through Israel’s six-month warfare towards Hamas militants within the Gaza Strip. The warfare erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant teams backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border assault on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 folks in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. An Israeli offensive in Gaza has triggered widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 folks, in response to native well being officers.

Virtually instantly after the warfare erupted, Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, started attacking Israel’s northern border. The 2 sides have been concerned in every day exchanges of fireplace, whereas Iranian-backed teams in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have launched rockets and missiles towards Israel.

In a press release carried late Saturday by Iran’s state-run IRNA information company, the nation’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged launching “dozens of drones and missiles in the direction of the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.” The assertion didn’t elaborate.

On-line movies shared by state tv purported to indicate delta-wing-style drones resembling the Iranian Shahed-136 drones lengthy utilized by Russia in its warfare on Ukraine. The drones are bomb-carrying and slow-flying. Ukraine has efficiently used each surface-to-air missiles and floor hearth to focus on the drones.

Iran has an enormous arsenal of drones and missiles. Tehran’s alternative of the Shahed-136 drones give Israel and its allies hours to shoot them down. It doesn’t seem Iran used any of its ballistic missiles within the assault, which might pose a better danger to Israel.

Israel has a multilayered air-defense community that features methods able to intercepting quite a lot of threats together with long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range rockets.

Hagari, the military spokesman, mentioned Israel was “ready and prepared” with each defensive and offensive responses. However he cautioned that the air defenses usually are not 100% efficient and urged the general public to heed security directions.

The military’s Residence Entrance Command canceled faculty on Sunday and restricted public gatherings to not more than 1,000 folks. Israel closed its airspace and canceled all flights.

Earlier Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: “Whoever harms us, we’ll hurt them.”

In Washington, President Joe Biden lower quick a weekend journey to his seashore home in Delaware to return to the White Home. He was set to convene a principals assembly of the Nationwide Safety Council on Saturday to debate the unfolding assault, the White Home mentioned.

“The US will stand with the folks of Israel and assist their protection towards these threats from Iran,” Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson mentioned in a press release.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, the top of the U.S. navy’s Central Command, was in Israel over the weekend consulting with Israeli protection officers in regards to the Iranian menace. The Central Command oversees U.S. forces within the Center East, whereas Israel has a formidable arsenal that features long-range missiles and F-35 stealth warplanes.

For days, Iranian officers together with Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had threatened to “slap” Israel for its Syria strike.

In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses noticed lengthy strains at gasoline stations early Sunday as folks appeared fearful about what could come subsequent. Dozens of hard-liners demonstrated in assist of the assault at Palestine Sq..

Lebanon’s state-run Nationwide Information Company reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling on a number of areas in south Lebanon following Iran’s launch of drones.

Flight-tracking knowledge late Saturday confirmed the airspace over Jordan empty, whereas few flights continued on their north-south routes over Iraq. A sole Center East Airways flight from Dubai to Beirut remained airborne over Syria. Lebanon was closing its airspace.

Earlier Saturday, commandos from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship close to the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel.

Iran’s state-run IRNA mentioned a particular forces unit of the Guard’s navy carried out the assault on the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship related to London-based Zodiac Maritime.

Zodiac Maritime is a part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to remark and referred inquiries to MSC. Geneva-based MSC acknowledged the seizure and mentioned 25 crew members have been on the ship.

“We’re working intently with the related authorities to make sure their well-being, and secure return of the vessel,” MSC mentioned.

Watson, the White Home spokesperson, mentioned the crew was made up of Indian, Filipino, Pakistani, Russian and Estonian nationals and urged Iran to launch them and the vessel.

IRNA mentioned the Guard would take the vessel into Iranian territorial waters.

A Center East protection official, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate intelligence issues, offered video of the assault to The Related Press wherein Iranian commandos are seen rappelling onto a stack of containers on the vessel’s deck.

The video corresponded with identified particulars of the MSC Aries. The commandos rappelled from what seemed to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which each the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have used earlier than to raid ships.