Kareem Chehayeb and Hassan Ammar
Updated ,first published
Jerusalem: Iran fired missiles at Israel in the first such attack since a tenuous ceasefire took effect in early April, raising the possibility of a return to heavy fighting and hampering mediation efforts to end the war.
Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the broadcast, and Iran closed its western airspace to prepare for a possible response. Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel launched an unannounced attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut early on Sunday, defying Washington’s earlier call to withdraw. Israel said Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire in northern Israel earlier in the day.
“If these acts of aggression are repeated, the response will be broader and will include all American and Zionist targets throughout the region,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that also referred to attacks on Iran’s coast and ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
Sirens sounded in several parts of Israel, sending millions fleeing for shelter. The Israeli army said it intercepted the missiles, and multiple explosions were heard in the north. Less than an hour later, the army said people could leave areas fortified against missile attacks.
“Iran has made serious mistakes,” Israeli army spokeswoman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said. The chief of the armed forces, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said “it will hit the enemy with intent as soon as the order is given”.
But Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, said US President Donald Trump told him he didn’t think Israel needed to respond further.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone after the Iranian attack, Reuters reported citing Israeli media.
early, American news agency Axios reported that Trump said he would call Netanyahu and pressure him not to retaliate against the Iranian missile attack.
“I’m going to call Grandma right now and tell her not to retaliate. They each had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump told Axios, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
“Iran’s attacks did not harm anyone. Hopefully, Israel will not retaliate. If Bibi strikes them again, it will continue like the last 47 years – or the last 3000 years.
“We are very close to the final deal with Iran. It will be a good deal. I don’t want it to explode because of what is happening now.”
Trump told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wants the Iranians to stop firing missiles and get back to the negotiating table. He also said that the Israeli attack early on Sunday was not coordinated by the US and “I am not happy about it”.
Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would restart an all-out war in the Middle East, even as Pakistan tried to restart talks between Tehran and Washington. Iran wants a comprehensive agreement to end the war in Lebanon.
“US forces throughout the Middle East remain alert and ready,” the US commander in chief wrote on X shortly before the missile launch.
The Israeli attack on Beirut came a few days after the governments of Lebanon and Israel agreed to a ceasefire in talks organized by the United States, although Hezbollah rejected the agreement. The strike on a residential building killed two people and wounded 20, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
“The army will continue to take action throughout Lebanon,” an Israeli army spokesman said.
Associated Press reporters also heard loud explosions in the air over Damascus. Syrian state media said the increase was due to Israeli air defenses. Syria has 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 reasons related to air traffic safety after the launch of Iranian rockets, aviation officials told Reuters on Sunday. The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority has said that Iraqi airspace will continue to be closed for 72 hours.
Israel’s attacks and ground invasions in Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah, and the militant group’s resistance to disarmament, have hampered a general agreement to end the war in the Middle East. Iran says any deal must include an end to fighting in Lebanon.
Last week, Israel had announced that it would attack the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, but emergency talks through Washington halted that 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 direct talks between Lebanon and Israel to end, instead supporting Iran’s position that the general ceasefire agreement between Tehran and Washington includes the situation in Lebanon.
Mediation efforts on the landmark deal continued on Sunday when Pakistan’s interior minister visited Iran to speak with officials and Egypt said its foreign minister and his Qatari counterpart discussed “suggested items” of a possible deal, without elaborating.
Trump, in an interview taped on Friday and aired Sunday by NBC’s Meet the Journalistshe said: “I would like to see Lebanon have a better life. I would like to see more surgical strikes against Hezbollah. I think it should be more surgical.”
Trump added that he “doesn’t need” Lebanon to be part of a 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 missiles into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the United States began attacking Iran. More than 1 million people in Lebanon have fled their homes. The fighting has resulted in the deaths of 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
At the same time, Iran continued to insist on holding the Strait of Hormuz and the United States continued to block Iranian ports, while shipments of oil, natural gas and fertilizers were affected and the world economy was in pain.
Netanyahu, who faces elections this year, wants to continue the Israeli offensive until he believes Hezbollah is no longer a threat.
Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday. Mohsin Naqvi was delivering a message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. There were no details on the contents of the message.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named the ruler of the Islamic Republic after his father was killed on February 28, the first day of the war.
AP, Reuters
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