Iran fires missiles at Israel, further escalating Middle East conflict

Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles against Israel on Tuesday, the latest escalation between the two countries amid a widening conflict in the Middle East.

Israel’s military said it intercepted more than 180 missiles launched from Iran across the country, setting off explosions that could be heard in Tel Aviv and near Jerusalem.

The Pentagon, which said U.S. naval destroyers in the region helped to intercept the missiles, said roughly 200 projectiles were fired by Iran — an attack “twice the size” of an Iranian barrage in April.

About 10 million Israelis were told to take shelter as air raid sirens warned of the attack.

Iran had vowed to retaliate following Israeli attacks that killed the top leadership of its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

“Our action is concluded unless (the) Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on the social media platform X. “In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful.

“Israel’s enablers now have a heightened responsibility to rein in the warmongers in Tel Aviv instead of getting involved in their folly.”

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the country’s air defenses intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles, though some landed in central and southern Israel. Israel’s national rescue service said two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel. In the West Bank, Palestinian officials said a Palestinian man was killed by a missile that fell near the town of Jericho, though it wasn’t clear where the attack originated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late Tuesday to retaliate against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.”

The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting on the escalating situation in the Middle East for Wednesday at 10 a.m., at the request of France and Israel.

Israel’s airport authority briefly closed the country’s airspace and diverted incoming flights to airports outside the country. The closure was lifted after the military said the threat had passed.

The barrage came shortly after a White House official on Tuesday told Global News the U.S. had indications Iran was planning to “imminently” launch a missile attack against Israel.

“A direct military attack from Iran against Israel will carry severe consequences for Iran,” the official wrote.

The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden directed the U.S. military to aid Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles that are targeting Israel. Biden and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris monitored the Iranian attack from the White House Situation Room.

“Based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at a briefing, but still called Iran’s actions a “significant escalation.”

Biden said the U.S. remains “fully, fully supportive of Israel,” while Harris called Tehran “a destabilizing, dangerous force in the Middle East.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller would not say what consequences the U.S. was considering for Iran’s “unacceptable” attack, telling reporters the administration would discuss next steps with its Israeli counterparts. The Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant before and after the attack.

Ahead of the attack, the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem directed all government employees and family members to shelter at their homes until further notice. The last time such an order was issued was ahead of Iran’s missile barrage in April.

That was the first time Iran had launched a direct attack on Israel, though few of the missiles reached their targets. Many were shot down by a U.S. and British-led coalition while others appeared to fail at launch or crashed while in flight.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told reporters in Ottawa Tuesday that Canada condemned Iran’s latest attack “unequivocally.”

“These attacks from Iran will only serve to further destabilize the region and it must stop,” she said.

Joly did not say if any changes were being made to Canada’s consular or diplomatic missions in Israel in response to the attack. She said consular services were available to help Canadians in the country.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on the Liberal government to support Israel’s right to defend itself from Iran and its proxies “and all the other terrorists.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government have repeatedly affirmed Canada’s support for Israel’s self-defence while also calling for humanitarian ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon.

Joly told reporters Israel does have the right to defend itself but that further escalation of the war is not going to help.

Hagar Chemali, a counterterrorism expert and former White House National Security Council director for Lebanon and Syria, told Global News the latest attack should not be seen as Iran looking for a direct war with Israel.

“(It’s) much more a symbol of, ‘We’re standing in solidarity with our brothers,'” she said.

“The regime is very weak at the moment, and they don’t want to enter a full war with Israel knowing that the United States is right behind Israel. That’s the last thing the regime wants at this stage.”

Defence Minister Bill Blair said there are Canadian facilities and aircraft in both Turkey and Cyprus but that the current focus is on using commercial means to get Canadian citizens out of Lebanon.

“We’ve sent a number of our people into the region. We have about 200 people in the area right now but we’re increasing that number as may be required,” he said.

The federal government has been urging Canadians in Lebanon to get out of the country immediately via commercial flights. Global Affairs Canada began reserving batches of seats on commercial flights last week to assist Canadians in leaving.

“We’re ready if we’re required to do more,” Blair told reporters outside the Liberal cabinet meeting in Ottawa Tuesday.

Officials say about 300 Canadians have left on government-assisted flights since the weekend, including around 200 who flew out of Beirut to Istanbul on Tuesday. She said the government has reserved over 600 commercial seats and was looking for more, noting not all of the reserved seats have been taken.

“If you are offered a seat, please take it,” she said.

The government has said over 40,000 Canadians are in Lebanon but roughly 20,000 have registered for updates and assistance.

Sources told Global News military assets were being pre-positioned in the region in order to move quickly if an evacuation is ordered.

Canadian MPs were set to hold an emergency debate in the House of Commons Tuesday evening on the crisis in Lebanon after Israel’s ground incursion intensified fears of a full-scale invasion.

The attack from Iran comes a day after the Israeli military began what they called limited, localized and targeted raids against Iran-backed Hezbollah in the border area of southern Lebanon.

An Israeli airstrike hit a residential building near Beirut Tuesday, causing damage and blowing out windows in the area. The strike appeared to hit an apartment about 100 meters from the Iranian Embassy. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Israel’s military also said on Tuesday it had killed Muhammad Jaafar Qasir, a commander in charge of weapons transfers from Iran and its affiliates to Hezbollah.

Netanyahu said earlier Tuesday that Israel was facing “large challenges” as it fights an Iranian “axis of evil.”

The day before, in an English-language video he said was directed at the Iranian people, Netanyahu warned Iran that there was “nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country,” accusing the Iranian government of plunging the Middle East “deeper into war” at the expense of its own people.

Israel has continued to launch attacks on Lebanon after the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah — the most powerful leader in Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and U.S. interests in the Middle East — one of the heaviest blows in decades to both Hezbollah and Iran.

Nasrallah’s killing, along with the assassinations of other Hezbollah commanders and systematic attacks on the group’s communications devices, constitute the biggest blow to the Shi’ite movement since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel.

“You have to look at (Hezbollah) as essentially a loaded gun pointed at Israel’s head,” Chemali told Global News. “And Israel in large part undermined that gun, has made that gun much weaker. And that undermines, in turn, Iran’s influence.”

Iran-backed groups like Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have vowed to continue its attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas, which also receives support from Iran and has been embroiled in a nearly year-long conflict with Israel in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading rocket fire across the Israel-Lebanon border throughout the Gaza conflict. But the attacks have escalated in recent weeks, killing hundreds of civilians in Lebanon and leading to growing concerns that an all-out war — the first since 2006 — is imminent.

Israel has accused the Iranian proxies of preparing a repeat of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and sparked the current conflict, as the first anniversary approaches.

Chemali said a widescale war involving Iran remained unlikely given the Iranian regime’s domestic weakness, but warned further escalation was still possible.

“That doesn’t mean that this is not going to last a long time, and that the proxies are going to all be involved and you’re just going to have peaks and valleys,” she said.

“Right now, we’re at a peak.”

—with files from Global News’ Reggie Cecchini, The Associated Press and Reuters