Iran fires scores of missiles at Israel

Iran launched around 180 missiles at Israel Tuesday in response to the killings of Tehran-backed militant leaders, prompting alarm across the region and vows of retaliation.Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israeli air defences or by allied air forces before they reached Israel."Missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel," the Israeli military said in a statement, as sirens sounded nationwide, announcing after about an hour that the attack was over with a "large number" of missiles intercepted.Israeli medics reported two people were lightly injured by shrapnel in the country's centre, while in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian was killed in Jericho "when pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him".It was Iran's second direct attack on Israel after a missile and drone attack in April in response to a deadly Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had launched a missile attack on "three military bases" around Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv.They said the attack was in response to Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week as well as the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing widely blamed on Israel.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Iranian attack was "unacceptable" and called on the whole world to condemn it.Israeli airspace was closed for several hours with all flights diverted.Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, which lie between Iran and Israel, closed their airspace too.As the missiles made their way to Israel from the east, blasts were heard over the Jordanian capital Amman, as Israel's allies moved to intercept them.Jordan said its air defences responded to missiles and drones.US President Joe Biden ordered the military to "aid Israel's defence" and shoot down Iranian missiles, the White House said.Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the latest Iranian "attack will have consequences. We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide".Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that "If the Zionist regime reacts to Iranian operations, it will face crushing attacks".Palestinian resistance movement Hamas praised the Iranian attack, saying it was "in revenge for the blood of our heroic martyrs".And Tehran-aligned armed factions in Iraq threatened to target "all" US forces in the country if Iran comes under attack.The Pentagon said the United States was boosting its forces in the Middle East by a "few thousand" troops.Later, as Iran launched missiles, celebratory gunfire erupted from Hezbollah's bastion in Beirut's southern suburbs.US to coordinate response to Iran attacks with Israel The United States said Tuesday that Iran must suffer "consequences" for its ballistic missile attack on Israel and the United States will coordinate a response with Israeli officials. "Of course, there must be consequences for Iran for this attack," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. "I'm not going to get into what those consequences are today, but there are things on which we will be coordinating with our Israeli counterparts," Miller said.