 "Israelis take cover behind vehicles under a bridge along the side of a highway in Tel Aviv. AFP")
Air raid sirens echoed. Citizens rushed to bomb shelters. And, missiles lit up the sky.
Escalation in a series of attacks between Israel and Iran intensified on Tuesday when Iran launched at least 180 missiles towards Israel. This latest development in the ongoing conflict has once again raised concerns about the possibility of a broader war in West Asia.
Iran claimed the missile barrage was in response to recent Israeli strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been firing rockets towards Israel since the Gaza conflict erupted.
Netanyahu says Iran ‘made a big mistake’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised retaliation against Iran, stating that Iran had “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.” Meanwhile, Iran’s armed forces joint chief of staff, General Mohammad Bagheri, warned that any action against Iranian territory would be met with intensified strikes on Israel’s entire infrastructure.
Just before Iran launched its missiles, a shooting attack in Tel Aviv left at least six dead, with police confirming that the two suspects involved were killed after opening fire in the Jaffa neighbourhood.
On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes and artillery targeted several southern Lebanese villages, while Hezbollah responded with a barrage of rockets towards Israel.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have continued to escalate since the war in Gaza began, following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Here is a summary of key events leading up to Iran’s missile strike on Israel
Hamas attack
On October 8, 2023, a day after militants from Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attack Israel, late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says Iran supports the Palestinians’ “legitimate defence”. He accuses Israel of “endangering the security of nations in the region”.
In central Tehran, banners are raised showing solidarity with the Palestinians.
On October 28, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirms that 90 percent of Hamas’s military budget comes from Iran.
“It funds, it organises, it directs it.”
Death of top commander
On December 25, Iran blames Israel for an attack in Syria that kills Razi Moussavi, a senior officer in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Weeks later in January 2024, a strike in Damascus blamed on Israel kills five Revolutionary Guards members.
Iranian media later report that the victims included the group’s intelligence chief for Syria and his deputy.
Raisi threatens to retaliate.
Attack on Iranian embassy
On April 1 this year, an air strike blamed on Israel against Iran’s diplomatic mission in Damascus levels the embassy’s consular annex.
It kills seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.
Iran and Syria accuse Israel, which neither confirms nor denies it.
The Israeli army then states that the casualties of the strike were “terrorists” fighting Israel.
Iran hits back
Nearly two weeks later on April 13, Iran sends a wave of missiles and drones at Israel.
The attack is Tehran’s first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory since the establishment of its Islamic Republic in 1979.
Israel and other nations including the US intercept most of the projectiles. Israel vows to retaliate.
On April 19, explosions are reported in central Iran, as US media quote officials saying Israel has carried out revenge strikes against its arch-rival. Iran plays down the impact of the blasts and does not directly accuse Israel, which does not claim responsibility.
Hamas leader killed in Tehran
On July 31, Hamas says its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an overnight strike in Iran.
Iranian media say he was killed by “an air-launched missile”.
He was attending the swearing-in of the new President Masoud Pezeshkian. Hamas, which with Iran and Hezbollah blames Israel, vows the act “will not go unanswered”.
Israel declines to comment on the strike, which came after it struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut, killing a senior commander of the Lebanese militant group, Fuad Shukr.
On August 3, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say that Israel killed Haniyeh using a “short-range projectile” launched from outside of his accommodation in Tehran.
Hezbollah leader killed
Amid a mounting series of bombardments against Hezbollah, on September 27 an Israeli strike on its south Beirut stronghold kills the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah alongside an Iranian general in the Revolutionary Guards.
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vows that Nasrallah’s death “will not be in vain”.
Iran strike on Israel
On October 1, Iran launches a barrage of missiles at Israel in what the Revolutionary Guards say is a response to the killings of Nasrallah and Haniyeh.
The attack comes the day after Israel announced limited ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari says the Iranian attack “will have consequences. We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide.”
With inputs from AFP