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Iran Launches Barrage of Ballistic Missiles at Israel
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, Oct. 1, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, forcing the Jewish state’s entire civilian population to take cover in bomb shelters.
“A short time ago missiles were launched from Iran into the territory of the State of Israel,” a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. “You are asked to be vigilant and act exactly according to the instructions of the Home Front Command. The IDF is doing and will do everything necessary to protect the citizens of the State of Israel.”
The IDF posted on X/Twitter that “all Israeli civilians” were sheltering from the Iranian attack.
Alarms sounded across Israel and explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley. Reuters journalists reported seeing missiles being intercepted in the airspace of neighboring Jordan.
According to Israeli army radio, nearly 200 missiles had been launched into Israel from Iran.
“The air-defense system is fully operational, detecting and intercepting threats wherever necessary, even at this moment,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman. “However, the defense is not hermetic.”
Israel‘s military later said Israelis were free to leave their shelters.
“Following the situational assessment, it was decided that it is now permitted to leave protected spaces in all areas across the country,” the military said.
According to Hagari, the IDF was not immediately aware of any injuries resulting from the Iranian missile attack.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military force and internationally designated terrorist organization with significant political and economic influence, said Iran had launched “tens of missiles” at Israel and that if Israel retaliated, Tehran’s response would be “more crushing and ruinous.”
Iran had initially vowed to retaliate for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July. The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the assassination, although the Iranian regime blamed Jerusalem.
It was widely expected that Iran would launch a direct attack on Israel; however, no such attack ever came.
Then Iran said it would retaliate following Israeli airstrikes over the last two weeks that killed the top leaders of its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, including longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. IRGC deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the same strike as Nasrallah.
Iran backs both Hamas and Hezbollah, providing the Islamist terrorist groups with weapons, funding, and training.
“After a period of restraint, Iran has targeted the heart of the occupied territories with tens of missiles following the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh … the intensification of the Zionist regime’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, the martyrdom of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and [of] Guards Commander Abbas Nilforoushan,” the IRGC reportedly said.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the missile launches were ordered by Iran’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that Tehran is “fully prepared” for an Israeli response. According to Reuters, Khamenei has remained in a secure location since the Israeli airstrikes on Beirut that killed Nasrallah last week.
Tuesday’s missile barrage came after Israel said its troops launched limited ground raids into neighboring Lebanon, where Iran’s chief proxy force Hezbollah wields significant influence and has been firing drones, missiles, and rockets at northern Israeli communities almost daily for the past year.
About 80,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate and flee their homes amid the relentless attacks. Israeli leaders have said they are committed to making it safe for the displaced citizens to return to their homes, even if that means using military force to push Hezbollah forces further away from the Israel-Lebanon border.
US officials had reportedly said earlier on Tuesday that they had indications Iran was preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel and that Washington was actively supporting preparations to defend the Jewish state, its closest Middle Eastern ally.
US President Joe Biden said the United States was prepared to help Israel defend itself from Iranian aggression.
“We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region,” Biden posted on X/Twitter about a meeting held with Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House national security team earlier in the day.
In April, Iran launched what was then an unprecedented direct attack on Israeli soil. In that attack, Iran fired some 300 missiles and drones at Israel, nearly all of which were downed by the Jewish state and its allies. The failed barrage was in retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Syria’s capital of Damascus that killed seven IRGC members, including two senior commanders. One of the commanders allegedly helped plan the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Israel neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the incident.
Iran’s latest attack came one day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned nowhere in the Middle East was beyond its reach to strike.
This story is developing and will be updated.
The post Iran Launches Barrage of Ballistic Missiles at Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.