Iran has said the missile attack on Israel - its biggest military assault against the Jewish state - is over unless a new provocation follows the tension. Israel and the US have vowed to retaliate against Tehran amid growing fears of a wider war, Reuters reported.
Despite calls for a ceasefire by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah" continue today.
Israel renewed its bombardment of the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a stronghold of the Iran-backed militant movement, carrying out at least a dozen airstrikes on targets that Israeli forces said were linked to Hezbollah.
Large plumes of smoke rose from some parts of the suburbs. Earlier today, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued new evacuation orders in the area, which has been largely depopulated after several days of heavy airstrikes.
Earlier today "Hezbollah" reported that early this morning its fighters clashed with Israeli forces that had infiltrated the village of Adaiseh in southern Lebanon and forced them to retreat, Reuters reported.
Iran described yesterday's massive attack on Israel as defensive and aimed solely at its military facilities. Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that three Israeli military bases were attacked.
Tehran said its attack was in response to Israeli killings of leaders of pro-Iranian armed groups and aggression in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
"Our actions are over, unless the Israeli regime decides to provoke further retaliation. In this scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi said in a post early this morning on the X platform.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to strike back. "Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it," he said late last night at the start of an emergency meeting of Israel's military-political security cabinet.
Washington has said it will work with its longtime ally Israel to ensure Iran suffers "severe consequences" about yesterday's attack, in which Israel says more than 180 ballistic missiles were fired.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant and stated that Washington is "well prepared" to protect its interests in the Middle East, the Pentagon said in a statement.
"The minister and I expressed mutual gratitude for Israel's coordinated defense against nearly 200 ballistic missiles fired by Iran and pledged to remain in close contact," Austin said in a separate statement on the "X" platform.
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US Navy ships fired dozens of interceptors against Iranian missiles aimed at Israel, the Pentagon announced.
Britain said its forces played an important role "in trying to prevent further escalation in the Middle East", without elaborating.
The Pentagon said the airstrikes carried out by Iran yesterday were about twice as large as the Iranian attack on Israel in April.
"The answer will be painful"
Israel activated its air defense system against the Iranian bombardment yesterday, and most of the missiles were shot down "by Israel and the US-led defense coalition," IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video in X. adding that "the attack on Iran is a serious and dangerous escalation".
Yesterday Iranian forces first used hypersonic ballistic missiles "Fatah" and 90 percent of them successfully hit their targets in Israel, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported.
In a statement to state media, the General Staff of Iran's armed forces said any Israeli response would be met with "enormous destruction" of Israel's infrastructure. The headquarters also said it would attack the regional assets of any Israeli ally that intervened in the conflict.
Fears that Iran and the US could be drawn into a regional war have grown as Israel's assault on Lebanon has intensified over the past two weeks, including the launch of a ground operation there on Monday, amid the year-long conflict in the Strip Gaza.
US President Joe Biden expressed full US support for Israel and described Iran's attack as "ineffective". Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, supported Biden's position and said that Washington will not hesitate to defend its interests against Iran.
"We will act. Iran will soon feel the consequences of its actions. The answer will be painful," Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Danny Danon, told reporters.
The White House also promised "severe consequences" on Iran, with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan telling a briefing in Washington that the US "will work with Israel to make that happen". He did not specify what those consequences might be.
French President Emmanuel Macron strongly condemned Iran's new attacks against Israel and added that as a sign of commitment to Israel's security, France will mobilize its military resources in the Middle East today.
The UN Security Council has scheduled a meeting on the conflict in the Middle East for later today, and the European Union has called for an immediate ceasefire.
Nearly 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon, almost a year since cross-border shelling began on the Israeli-Lebanese border, most of it in the past two weeks, Lebanese government figures show.