Some 400 rockets were launched onto Israel on Tuesday night by Iran, The Jerusalem Post understands, following rocket alert sirens that blared throughout the country.
So far, 4 people were reportedly killed during the aerial attacks, and there have been two direct hits, one of which was in Tel Aviv.
Iran launched the wave of attacks after the IDF announced on Monday night that it had begun limited ground operations in Lebanon.
According to this article:
(They reference IDF, so they might be wrong, but assuming they are correct)
Iran shot 180 missiles, and Israel intercepted most of them.
I don’t think this attack was significant in any means.
180 missiles is A LOT. It takes a very strong air defense to resist that.
It’s bigger than the biggest Russian missile attack on Ukraine! Where an attack by Russia with 158 missiles and drones combined caused 31 dead:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-launches-massive-air-attack-ukraine-least-10-dead-kyiv-2023-12-29/
31 dead and drones are way easier to shoot down than missiles.
This looks to me like a very serious attempt by Iran to penetrate Israeli air defenses.
A successful attempt, too. There’s videos of multiple missiles making it through, though fortunately they seem mostly to have landed in large outdoor spaces.
I don’t know if we know if the missiles were proper guided missiles, or just dumb MLRS-style unguided rockets. I’d imagine it’s both, but that’s the important factor in if Iran was just flexing their capability while minimizing damage, or if this was a serious attack.