ein news - 4/14/2024 1:08:08 PM - GMT (+2 )
A top Iranian General has warned Israel and its allies that Tehran will launch another massive - even larger - attack if Israel responds to more than 300 missiles and drones launched at it overnight.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri told state TV: "Our response will be much larger than tonight's military action if Israel retaliates against Iran."
He also warned the US that if it got involved in any response, Iran and its proxies would target Washinton's assets in the Middle East.
Despite the warning, Bagheri said Iran had no intention of continuing operations and claimed the military had been successful in targeting two Iranian military bases. Israel's war cabinet, however, is said to have approved a "powerful response on Iranian soil", according to local media.
An Israeli military spokesman said Sunday the launches numbered more than 300, but 99 percent of them were intercepted.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles. Several ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing minor damage to an air base.
The Iranian attack on Saturday, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building, marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others.
An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 people, according to local health officials.
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