April 14, 2024 - Iran's attack on Israel

The confrontation between Iran and Israel is "not over yet," Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday, following Tehran's attack on Israel the previous night.

"The State of Israel was attacked with hundreds of missiles and [unmanned aerial vehicles], and the [Israel Defense Forces] thwarted this attack in an impressive manner," Gallant said, urging Israelis to remain "alert and attentive to the instructions published by the IDF and Homefront Command." The defense minister stressed that Israel "must be prepared for every scenario."

"Together with the United States and additional partners, we managed to defend the territory of the State of Israel," Gallant continued. "Very little damage was caused – this is the result of the IDF’s impressive operations."

Gallant is one of three men who make up Israel's war cabinet, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz. The war cabinet has been authorized to decide on Israel’s response to the Iranian attack, an Israeli official told CNN.

On Saturday evening, Netanyahu addressed the citizens of Israel, proclaiming that Israel has been preparing for a direct attack by Iran and is ready for "any scenario, both defensively and offensively."

"We have determined a clear principle," Netanyahu continued. "Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We will defend ourselves against any threat and will do so level-headedly and with determination."

An Israeli airstrike has destroyed a building in the town of Nabi Sheet in Lebanon's Baalbek region, northeast of the capital Beirut, on Sunday, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said.

The Israeli military told CNN it cannot yet confirm these reports.

Some background:

Tensions between neighbors Israel and Lebanon have escalated since October 7, with rocket fire regularly exchanged between the two countries. Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has repeatedly declared its support for the Palestinian people in Gaza and their resistance against Israeli attacks on civilian areas. 

Israeli strikes in the Baalbek region are rarer considering it is further north into Lebanon, about (50 miles) 80 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border. Last Sunday, the Israeli military said it struck four sites of Hezbollah's air defense unit in the Baalbek area.

Almost all the ballistic missiles and drones Iran launched at Israel in an unprecedented attack late Saturday were intercepted and failed to meet their mark, according to Israeli and American officials, highlighting the formidable and multi-layered missile defense deployed by the two allied partners.

Most of the more than 300 Iranian munitions were intercepted before they got to Israel, more than 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers) from their launch points.

The US Navy and US warplanes shot down multiple ballistic missiles, as well as other Iranian ordnance, officials told CNN’s Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon.

Israel's Iron Dome system, the bottom layer of Israel’s missile defense, uses a command-and-control system that quickly calculates whether an incoming projectile poses a threat or is likely to hit an unpopulated area. If the rocket does pose a threat, the Iron Dome fires missiles from the ground to destroy it in the air. There are at least 10 Iron Dome batteries in Israel.

Other Israeli missile defense systems include David's Sling, which uses Stunner and SkyCeptor kinetic hit-to-kill interceptors to take out targets as far as 186 miles away, and Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems, jointly developed with the United States, which intercept incoming ballistic missiles in space.

Israel also has state-of-the-art fighter aircraft, including F-35I stealth jets that it has used to shoot down drones and cruise missiles before, according to news reports.

Read the full analysis here

Iran’s IRGC leader said a “new equation” was created after its attack on Israel, and that it will now respond directly whenever Israel attacks its interests, assets or people. 

"Honest Promise" was the name given to Iran’s unprecedented attack late on Saturday, which saw drones and missiles launched at Israel over a five-hour period.

The attack marked a dangerous new inflection point in the fast-widening Middle East conflict, bringing the long-running shadow war between the two sides into the open and raising the prospect of full-blown regional conflict.

The US assessed that almost all of the drones and missiles – including more than 100 ballistic missiles – launched by Iran had been knocked out of the sky. No cruise missile made impact and nothing of “value” was hit, according to a senior White House official.

Iraq said it had reopened its airspace after it was temporarily closed overnight amid the attacks on Israel.

The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority confirmed Sunday that this decision follows the successful "mitigation of all risks" that previously affected the safety and security of civil aviation in Iraq.

The airspace closed on Saturday night as a precautionary measure, following a thorough risk assessment conducted by Iraqi authorities.

Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on the Israeli government to "learn lessons" and move on to Rafah."

In a post on X, Smotrich said that he had warned that "giving up on Israel's red lines and chasing after Hamas for a deal" would "only decrease" the chance of bringing Israeli hostages held in Gaza back.

"It's time to learn lessons, change direction, move on to Rafah now and restore full Israeli control all over the Gaza Strip," Smotrich added.

Some context: The far-right minister has, in the past, denied the existence of a Palestinian people or nationhood, prompting a rebuke from the United States in March 2023.

More than 1 million Palestinian civilians are estimated to be sheltering in Rafah in southern Gaza, most of them displaced from other parts of the besieged enclave and crammed into a sprawling tent city.

Israel has been threatening an invasion into Rafah for some time now - despite pushback from allies like the US. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had set a date for the action, adding that "entry into Rafah" is necessary for a "complete victory over Hamas."

Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces said Iran sent a message to the United States through the Swiss embassy warning Washington that if it cooperates with Israel in their possible next actions, US bases will "not have any security" and will be "dealt with." 

Bagheri said from Iran's perspective, the military operation against Israel "has concluded." 

However, he emphasized that Iranian armed forces remain on high alert and are prepared to "act if necessary," according to an interview on state IRINN TV on Sunday.

The Zionist regime is an Iranian reference to Israel.

"Israel's actions in the consulate were condemned so a response should have been given," Bagheri added.

Some context: Iranian authorities have made clear this weekend's strikes where retaliation for an April 1 strike by Israel which destroyed an Iranian consulate building in the capital Damascus.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack which Iran said killed multiple officials, including Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top Revolutionary Guards commander.

However an Israel Defense Forces spokesman told CNN that their intelligence showed the building was not a consulate and was instead “a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building.”

Reaction to Iran's strikes on Israel has poured in from world leaders, some openly condemning Tehran, others calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and almost all urging restraint during a moment of huge tension in the Middle East.

US President Joe Biden said that the US “is devoted to the defense of Israel.” 

“Our commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Biden said in a statement.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate halt to hostilities in the Middle East. “I urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid any action that could lead to major military confrontations on multiple fronts in the Middle East,” Guterres said in a series of tweets on X.

“I have repeatedly stressed that neither the region nor the world can afford another war.” 

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the attacks "demonstrate yet again the Iranian regime’s disregard for peace and stability in the region. We support Israel’s right to defend itself and its people from these attacks.”

China expressed “deep concern” over the “current escalation”, according to a spokesperson for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, adding that it was a “spillover of the Gaza conflict” and a ceasefire should be implemented without delay. Beijing called “on relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint to prevent further escalations.”

India's Foreign Ministry said that it is "seriously concerned" about the escalation of hostilities between Iran and Israel. "We call for immediate de-escalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence and return to the path of diplomacy," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan said the attacks were "the consequences of the breakdown of diplomacy."

"For months, Pakistan has underlined the necessity of international efforts to prevent expansion of hostilities in the region and for a ceasefire in Gaza," read a government statement.

Saudi Arabia, a major regional rival to Iran, stressed the importance of “preventing any further exacerbation” of the crisis, warning of “dire consequences” should the situation worsen.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry called the latest developments a "dangerous escalation". It said the latest hostilities were "nothing but a direct result of what Egypt has repeatedly warned about, regarding the dangers of expanding the conflict in the region as a result of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, and the provocative military actions being exercised in the region.”

Qatar, which plays a vital role in many Middle East conflicts and enjoys close economic relations with Iran, expressed “profound concern” and called on all parties to "cease escalation, calm tensions, and exercise maximum restraint."

The United Arab Emirates, which is geographically close to Iran and normalized relations with Israel in 2020, called for an end to regional escalation to avoid “dangerous repercussions” and warned of “new levels of instability."

Russia, which has been waging a brutal war on Ukraine for over two years, called on all parties "to exercise restraint." "We express our utmost concern about another dangerous escalation in the region," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday. 

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned Iran's attack, calling it "unacceptable" and "irresponsible."

"It is extremely important to make every effort to prevent the confrontation from escalating into a large-scale regional conflict," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said, adding that the attack "demonstrates the importance of mobilizing all the power of the free world to defend the global boundaries of democracy." 

In a statement on X, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK would “continue to stand up for Israel’s security and that of all of its regional partners, including Jordan and Iraq.

Ireland, whose leader has been a vocal critic of Israel's war in Gaza, called on both Iran and Israel to "show restraint" and "avoid any escalation" following a "reckless attack" by Iran. 

Adding to this were also statements from leaders in European countries like Germany, Denmark, France, Norway and Austria.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the attacks “blatant and unjustifiable.” “All actors must now refrain from further escalation and work to restore stability in the region,” Von der Leyen said. 

Israel is "working closely" with the US, UK and France, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, adding that all three "acted tonight" during the Iranian strikes.

"We are working closely with the US, UK and France who acted tonight. This partnership has always been close, but tonight it manifested itself in an unusual way," Hagari said.