Iran fired a pair of ballistic missile barrages at Israel early Wednesday, as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that “the battle begins” and called for showing “no mercy” toward Israelis.
The first salvo, which began to trigger sirens across a large swath of Israel shortly after 12:40 a.m., included some 15 projectiles.
The next barrage of approximately 10 rockets began around 40 minutes later and triggered alerts in central Israeli communities and a number of West Bank settlements.
Several minutes before the attacks, the Israel Defense Forces issued alerts warning residents of the missile fire and instructing them to seek shelter. Following each salvo, the IDF informed Israelis it was then safe to leave the bomb shelters.
There were no reports of injuries in the successive attacks, but a fire was sparked at a parking lot in central Israel, damaging numerous cars.
It was not immediately clear if the blaze was the result of a direct impact or caused by falling debris from an interception.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later claimed to have used hypersonic missiles.
“The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles” was carried out, the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television, claiming that Iranian forces “have gained complete control over the skies of the occupied territories.”
Warning sirens were also activated overnight around the Dead Sea due to a suspected drone infiltration, and shortly before 6 a.m.
Wednesday morning in numerous northern communities. The IDF said after the latter incident that the air force downed a drone “from the east,” a term the military has previously used to refer to Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Yemen.
