AMNUN, Galilee, Israel — The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday morning local time that it had intercepted the “majority” of the “dozens” of drones and cruise missiles that Iran had launched against Israel, though a few hit targets, including an IDF base.
Surreal footage of the Iranian attack over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif pic.twitter.com/NuSvF25HLX
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 13, 2024
In a statement, the IDF said:
Dozens of surface-to-surface missile launches from Iran were identified approaching Israeli territory. The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted the majority of the launches using the Arrow Aerial Defense System, together with Israel’s strategic allies, before the launches crossed into Israeli territory. A small number of hits were identified, including at an IDF base in southern Israel, where minor damage was caused to infrastructure.
Many dozens of hostile aircraft, as well as dozens of cruise missiles, were identified approaching Israeli territory from Iran and intercepted over the past few hours. Dozens of IAF fighter jets are currently operating to intercept all aerial threats approaching Israeli territory.
The IDF is deployed on all fronts, prepared, and continuing to defend Israeli territory.
In tota, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Iran had launched over 200 hostile aircraft.
Footage purportedly shows Iranian missiles impacting in the Negev area of southern Israel earlier. pic.twitter.com/WtE4rjtBms
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 13, 2024
Israelis were told to stay near the “safe rooms” — rooms with reinforced walls and doors — in their homes overnight. The order from Home Front Command was lifted before dawn Sunday morning, a sign that Israel believes the Iranian attack to be over. Booms continued to be heard over northern Israel.
The country was filled overnight with the sound of air raid sirens, and aircraft scrambling overhead, as well as the sound of explosions, as missile defense systems hit their targets. One injury was reported to a Bedouin Arab child in the Negev desert, hit by shrapnel.
Residents of the interior portions of Israel — including Jerusalem — heard air raid sirens and saw missile defense systems flashing overhead.
Another video from #Jerusalem shows extent of the first wave of ballistic missile strike of the #IRGC Aerospace Force at #Israel. You can see how well the Arrow-2/3 anti-abllistic missile systems took care of the first wave and shot-down most of the #Iranian ballistic missiles. pic.twitter.com/yft4ZEhbB4
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) April 14, 2024
It is unclear how Israel will respond. Israel had said last week that it would attack Iran directly if an attack against Israel originated from Iranian soil, as Saturday night’s attack did.
Israel could launch a full attack against Iran’s nuclear weapons program, as well as institutions of the Iranian regime, and Iranian proxies such as Hezbollah, which threatens Israel’s northern communities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone to U.S. President Joe Biden. Both governments convened their senior officials to discuss the Iranian attack.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.