By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
ON Saturday night, Iran launched a retaliatory attack against Israel, an act that risks sparking a regional conflict involving U.S. military forces.
The operation, which Israeli officials said included more than 300 missiles and drones, marked the first time that Iran has launched a direct military attack on the Jewish state.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, early Sunday, said, of some 30 cruise missiles launched toward Israel, 25 were intercepted by Israeli fighter jets and none managed to enter the country.
A few of the nearly 120 ballistic missiles fired toward Israel fell inside the country, causing slight damage to infrastructure on the Nevatim Air Force Base but leaving it fully operational.
According to NBC News, the assault severely injured a 10-year-old girl, but otherwise caused no casualties.
About 31 people were treated for anxiety or injuries they sustained while heading to a protected area when sirens sounded, Israel’s first responder service said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement late Saturday that the U.S. military shot down “dozens” of missiles and drones en route to Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, calling Iran’s assault unprecedented:
“We condemn these reckless and unprecedented attacks by Iran and its proxies, and we call on Iran to immediately halt any further attacks, including from its proxy forces, and to deescalate tensions.
“We do not seek conflict with Iran, but we will not hesitate to act to protect our forces and support the defense of Israel.”
Iran’s U.N. Mission issued a statement on X saying that Iran’s military action was in response to Israel’s attack on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria, referring to the April 1 bombing of an Iranian consular building in Damascus that killed two generals and five officers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The statement said that Iran considered the matter concluded after the missile and drone strikes. But it warned that if Israel makes another mistake, Iran would deliver a considerably more severe response.
Officials said that U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as American warships in the region, were part of the effort to counter the Iranian attack.
They include the USS Carney, a destroyer that has been involved in knocking out missiles and drones in the Red Sea fired by Iranian-backed Houthi forces from Yemen.
According to reports, the U.S. is contending with a potential war between rival nation states, that would be a dramatic and dangerous expansion of the long-simmering conflict between Iran and Israel that could further destabilize the Middle East.
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