Two U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea launched a dozen interceptor missiles to intercept some of the 180 rockets that Iran fired at Israel on Tuesday night. The assault caused panic on the streets of Tel Aviv and was in response to Israel's recent killing of Hezbollah's top leaders and its ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
As Iranian missiles lit up the sky and struck buildings, air sirens echoed throughout Israel, occurring just hours after the White House had warned that an attack was "imminent." The Israeli military has vowed that "there will be repercussions for this attack," though the ambulance service reported no injuries from the missile barrage.
US Helps Israel in Countering Iran
Dramatic footage revealed Israel's Iron Dome defense system successfully intercepting some of the incoming missiles, sending burning debris raining down, while Americans in Tel Aviv were urged to seek shelter in bomb bunkers.
A White House spokesperson announced that President Joe Biden had preemptively " irected the U.S. military to aid Israel's defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missile "targeting Israel."
The Pentagon confirmed that two U.S. destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea—the U.S.S. Cole and U.S.S. Bulkeley—launched a dozen interceptor missiles.
Defense officials said that they were still evaluating how many Iranian missiles had been intercepted by the U.S. forces.
Speaking at the White House, Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said: "U.S. Naval destroyers joined Israeli air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. President Biden and Vice President Harris monitored the attack and the response from the White House situation room.
"At this time, and I stress at this time, we do not know of any deaths in Israel. We do not know of any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel. In short, based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated effectively."
Middle East at Brink of War
Sullivan described it as a "significant escalation by Iran" and noted that Biden is "tracking this minute-by-minute." He said there was a reported death of a Palestinian civilian in Jericho, located in the West Bank.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel had "effectively defeated this attack" with the "active support of the U.S."
A State Department spokesman said: "Of course, there must be consequences for Iran for this attack."
In Lebanon, 6,000 Americans registered with the U.S. State Department are yet to receive information on how to exit the country.
Other countries in the Middle East heightened their security measures. Officials in Baghdad announced that Iraq had closed its airspace for safety reasons, while Jordan also implemented a closure of its airspace.
The 180 missiles struck Tel Aviv in two significant waves about15 minutes apart.
It is still unclear what exactly was hit in Israel and the extent of the damage on the ground. According to CNN, Tehran was aiming for the Mossad headquarters and military installations, with the spy agency's headquarters located just outside Tel Aviv.
Reports suggest that the decision to launch the attack was made by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was said to be in a secure location at the time.
