Missiles launched at northern Israel following strikes on Beirut
Kareem Chehayeb And Hasan Ammar
Updated ,first published
Jerusalem: Iran has launched missiles at Israel since a fragile ceasefire came into effect in early April, the first such bombardment, raising the possibility of a return to heavy fighting and complicating mediation efforts to end the war.
Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the missile launches and Iran closed its western airspace to prepare for a possible response. Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning early Sunday, despite Washington’s request to withdraw days earlier. Israel said Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire on northern Israel earlier in the day.
“If these acts of aggression are repeated, the scope of the reactions will be broader and will cover all American and Zionist targets in the region,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement, also referring to attacks on Iranian coasts and ships around the Strait of Hormuz.
Sirens blared in various parts of Israel, causing millions of people to run for shelter. The Israeli army said the missiles were intercepted and several explosions were heard in the north. Less than an hour later, the military said people could leave areas fortified against missile attacks.
“Iran made a big mistake,” Israeli military spokeswoman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said. The army’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said that “the enemy will be attacked with determination as soon as the order is given.”
But Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said US President Donald Trump had said he did not think Israel needed to respond further.
According to Reuters, based on Israeli media, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone after the Iranian attack.
Before, US news source Axios Trump reportedly called Netanyahu and said he would pressure him not to retaliate against Iran’s missile attack.
“I’m going to call Bibi right away and tell him not to retaliate. They both had fun. Israel had its attack, Iran had its attack. We don’t need another attack,” Trump told Axios, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
“Iran’s attacks did not harm anyone. I hope Israel does not retaliate. If Bibi responds to them, it will continue as it has in the last 47 years or the last 3000 years.
“We are very close to a final agreement with Iran. It will be a good agreement. I do not want the agreement to explode because of what is happening now.”
Trump told a Fox News Channel reporter on Monday (AEST) that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said Israel’s attacks early Sunday were not coordinated with the United States and “I’m not happy about that.”
Later, An interview with Finance TimesThe US president said Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept the deal the US negotiated with Iran because “Trump made the decision.”
“He won’t have a choice,” Trump was quoted as saying.
“I make the decisions. I make all the decisions. He doesn’t make the decisions.”
While Pakistan was trying to restart negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would restart a full-scale war in the Middle East. Iran wants an agreement that includes an end to the war in Lebanon.
Trump told Financial Times Iran’s attacks did not change its desire to conclude negotiations. Asked what would happen if such a deal “essentially” failed, Trump said he might consider a commando raid on Iran.
“U.S. forces in the Middle East remain alert and ready,” U.S. Central Command stated on X shortly before the missile was launched.
Israel’s attack on Beirut came just days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in US-hosted talks, but Hezbollah rejected the agreement. Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed and 20 injured in an attack on a residential building.
“The army will continue to operate throughout Lebanon,” an Israeli military spokesman said.
Associated Press journalists also heard loud explosions in the sky over Damascus. State media in Syria attributed the explosions to Israeli air defenses. Syria temporarily closed its southern airspace for 12 hours and suspended operations at Damascus airport.
Iraq also temporarily closed its airspace and suspended air navigation for air traffic safety reasons following the launch of Iranian rockets, civil aviation officials told Reuters on Sunday. Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said Iraqi airspace will remain closed for 72 hours.
Israel’s incursions and land occupation into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah and the militant group’s resistance to disarmament have complicated an overall agreement to end the war in the Middle East. Iran says any deal must include an end to the conflict in Lebanon.
Last week, Israel said it would strike the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, but urgent talks through Washington halted this on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.
On Sunday night, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for opening fire on Israel earlier in the day.
Hezbollah wants an end to direct talks between Lebanon and Israel; instead, he supports Iran’s position that the general ceasefire agreement between Tehran and Washington covers the situation in Lebanon.
Efforts to mediate that larger deal continued Sunday, with Pakistan’s interior minister visiting Iran to meet with officials and Egypt’s foreign minister and his Qatari counterpart saying they had discussed “proposed elements” of a potential deal without any details.
Trump in an interview recorded Friday and aired Sunday on NBC. Meet the PressHe said: “I would like to see Lebanon living a better life. I would like to see a more surgical attack on Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical.”
Trump added that he “did not ask” for Lebanon to be part of the short-term agreement to extend the ceasefire in the Iran war.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the United States began attacking Iran. More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon. At least 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians lost their lives in the clashes.
Meanwhile, Iran continued to assert its dominance in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States continued its blockade of Iranian ports; Shipments of oil, natural gas, and fertilizer were affected and the global economy suffered.
Netanyahu, who faces elections this year, wants to continue Israel’s offensive until he believes Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.
Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday. According to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Mohsen Naqvi was conveying a message from Pakistan’s chief of staff, Marshal Asim Munir, to Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. No details were given regarding the content of the message.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was elected ruler of the Islamic Republic following the killing of his father on February 28, the first day of the war.
AP, Reuters
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