The Middle East yesterday was closer to a long-feared regional war the day after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel and Jerusalem said it began limited ground incursions into Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
Israel said it intercepted many of the missiles, while officials in Washington said US destroyers assisted in Israel’s defense.
Iran said most of its missiles hit their targets.
Photo: AFP
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the strikes, but Israel reported seven people were killed in a shooting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late on Tuesday to retaliate against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.”
An Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel were to retaliate against Iran’s territory.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The UN Security Council yesterday called an emergency meeting to address the conflict.
However, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz said that he was barring UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering Israel, accusing him of being biased against the country.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since Oct. 8 last year, the day after a Hamas cross-border attack.
Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response.
Israeli police said that seven people were killed in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, minutes before the Iranian missile barrage.
Two Palestinian men from the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Hebron opened fire in the Jaffa neighborhood of Tel Aviv, including shooting into a light-rail car crowded with people that was stopped at a station, police said.
The two had no prior arrests, although one had been involved with disturbing the peace at a demonstration, police said.
The two men were shot and killed by security guards and armed pedestrians, police said, adding that one of the attackers was armed with an M16 rifle and the other with a knife.
In Gaza, the territory’s ministry of health raised the death toll to 51, with at least 82 people wounded, in a large Israeli air and ground operation in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel’s military had yet to comment on the operation, which began early yesterday.
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