Iran launches hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for Haniyeh and Nasrallah assassinations

The Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau

Mondoweiss  /  October 2, 2024

Iran announced that its barrage of ballistic missiles was in retaliation for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hasan Nasrallah in Beirut.

Iran launched a barrage of hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening in an unprecedented attack that hit several cities and Israeli military sites across Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Iran stated that the attack was in retaliation for the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah in Beirut last week, in addition to IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan, killed in the same strike, and Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last July.

Upon the conclusion of the Iranian missile attack, which took place in two closely timed “waves,” the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that there would be no more missiles “for now,” but that an Israeli retaliation would invite an even more forceful Iranian response.

The attack comes after over a week of escalations between Hezbollah and Israel following Israel’s exploding pager and electronics attacks earlier in September and the subsequent assassinations of most of Hezbollah’s top military command, including Hasan Nasrallah, Ibrahim Aqil — the commander of the elite Radwan Force — and over a dozen members of the Radwan leadership.

The Iranian attack occurred simultaneously with a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv carried out by two Palestinian men from Hebron in the West Bank, resulting in the death of 7 Israelis and the wounding of 17 others. The shooters were identified as Muhammad Masik, 19, and Ahmad al-Haymouni, 25, who had reportedly stabbed an Israeli security guard and used his M-16 assault rifle to carry out the attack.

Missiles hitting their targets

The Iranian attack saw at least 180 ballistic missiles launched toward Israel, many of which were filmed seemingly hitting their targets or being intercepted by Israel’s “David’s Sling” and “Arrow” air defense systems as sirens blared across most of the country. The U.S. also reportedly intercepted some of the missiles on their way to Israel, according to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Israeli military censorship has so far controlled the flow of information regarding the casualties and damage caused by the attack, which reportedly targeted, among other locations, Israel’s Nevatim Airbase (which houses its fleet of F-35 fighter jets) and the headquarters of the Mossad in Tel Aviv. However, several videos circulating online filmed by civilians, many of them Palestinians in the West Bank or Palestinian citizens of Israel, show dozens of rockets making impact with their targets.

Videos documenting the strikes indicate that they hit widespread areas. The Israeli army said in a statement on Wednesday that while military bases had sustained damage, no planes or soldiers were harmed in the attack. The army also claimed that Israel had intercepted a “large number” of them. Several hours before the attack, the U.S. had reportedly informed Israel that an Iranian attack was imminent. The U.S. also reportedly participated in intercepting some of the missiles.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the attack was “a significant escalation by Iran” and that “it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel and create a situation in which no one was killed.” Sullivan added that the attack “appears to have been defeated and ineffective.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an overnight statement that “Iran made a big mistake” and that it would “pay” for the attack, vowing that “whoever attacks us, we will attack them.”

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari also said in an overnight statement that Israel would reserve the right to retaliate “at a time and place of our choosing.”

On Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Israel would face an even “harsher reaction” in the event of an Israeli reprisal.

In Lebanon on Wednesday, the Israeli army reported that eight Israeli soldiers had been killed in the cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The announcement of the soldiers’ deaths comes amid Israeli reports over the weekend that the Israeli army had launched a “limited ground invasion” into southern Lebanon, although the Israeli claims have not been definitively confirmed by third-party sources.

The Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau are the Mondoweiss staff members based in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip