Sirens sounded across Israel as the army told all civilians to remain close to bomb shelters until further notice.
In a statement earlier today, the Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khameini said: “The Zionist regime (Israel) will not remain unscathed from the consequences of its crime. The Iranian nation must be guaranteed that our response will not be half-measured,”
An initial rocket salvo was launched on Friday morning in response to Israel’s overnight strikes on several key military installations and top Iranian army commanders, all of which were intercepted by Israel.
The attacks saw more than 200 Israeli Air Force jets attack dozens of targets, including military and nuclear sites, in a “preemptive, precise, combined offensive” strike against Iran’s nuclear program.
The IDF said the attack was based on “high-quality intelligence” and “in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation, dubbed “Rising Lion,” would “continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” vowing to stop “the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.”
The IDF’s international spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani,said that all of Israel was forced to shelter from the attack.
“While we target and neutralise precisely global threats, Iran aims indiscriminately at the whole country and a whole people,” Shoshani said. “Another wave of attack is heading toward our people.”
Air-raid sirens were heard throughout Israel around 3 am on Friday, warning of an immediate emergency situation on the home front. The Israeli military subsequently announced a ban on all “educational activities, gatherings and workplaces, except for essential sectors.”
Amid the threat of an Iranian attack, Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv has been evacuated, with all flights suspended. Israeli airlines are reportedly moving their planes to foreign airports.
