Israel came under attack from Iran, Yemen’s Houthis and Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Thursday, as Tehran and its proxies increased their assaults amid the Passover holiday.
Iran on threatened “crushing” attacks on the US and Israel after US President Donald Trump vowed to bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.”
Iran launched several missiles at Israel overnight Wednesday and throughout Thursday, the first days of Passover, targeting the country’s center and north. Emergency forces responded to several impact sites, as four people were reported lightly injured in the Tel Aviv area.
The IDF said Thursday evening that Iran had launched some 20 ballistic missiles at Israel over the previous day, marking an uptick in the rate of fire compared to recent weeks.
Around half of the missiles were intercepted, and half were allowed to hit open areas, “according to protocol,” the military said. At least two missiles carried cluster bomb warheads, which spread bomblets over wide areas in central Israel, lightly injuring several people and causing damage.
The military assessed that Iran tried to launch dozens more ballistic missiles to coincide with the Jewish holiday, but a wave of Israeli strikes thwarted the plans.
Footage posted to social media showed the moment an Iranian ballistic missile struck the central city of Petah Tikva on Saturday afternoon. No injuries were reported.
A ballistic missile launched by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen at Israel was intercepted on Thursday evening, after sirens sounded in Jerusalem, the surrounding area and near the Dead Sea. No injuries were reported.
Hezbollah fired some 130 rockets at northern Israel during the holiday, lightly injuring four people.
Amid the ramped-up missile launches, Iranian military command center Khatam Al-Anbiya put out a statement carried on state TV warning the US and Israel to expect “more crushing, broader, and more destructive actions.”
In a prime-time White House address Wednesday night, Trump said the US was “very close” to achieving its objectives but warned attacks would intensify if Iran did not reach a negotiated settlement.
“Over the next two to three weeks, we are going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong,” Trump said in a 19-minute speech delivered in front of American flags.
In some of the first major strikes since Trump’s speech, the key B1 highway bridge linking Iran’s capital Tehran to the western city of Karaj was hit Thursday by airstrikes, according to Fars news, which said two were killed and several wounded in the attack. The B1 bridge is considered the Middle East’s highest bridge and was inaugurated earlier this year, Fars added.
Around an hour later, Fars reported fresh airstrikes on the bridge, which it said was hit while “rescue forces were assisting the victims of the first attack.”
Later, Trump shared footage of the strikes in a post on his Truth Social account, saying: “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!”
“IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!” Trump threatened.
The US had hitherto largely avoided targeting Iranian civilian infrastructure and even warned Israel against hitting Iranian energy sites, as Washington has sought to avoid turning Iran into a failed state.
But Trump appears determined to further ramp up the pressure against the Islamic Republic, even as the latter doesn’t appear poised to accept Washington’s ceasefire demands.
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