Israel strikes central Beirut for the first time since 2006

Smoke rises over rubble left after an Israeli strike in the suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday, October 2.

At least six people were killed early Thursday local time in central Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, after the Israeli military said it conducted a precise strike. When asked about the strike, the military referred CNN to a previous statement.

The airstrike hit a building that housed the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority, a resident of the neighborhood told CNN. The authority had an office on one floor of the building.

Israeli strikes were also reported in Syria, which left three dead, and Gaza, where eight were killed.

Here’s what to know:

Situation on the ground: A CNN team on the ground heard three loud explosions around 11:40 p.m. local time (4:40 p.m. ET), and saw smoke rising above Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold. This comes after the following reported movements:

What Israel has said: Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has sent a stark message regarding a potential retaliatory attack on Iran, warning that Israel has the means to “strike any target in the Middle East.” Here’s what else we’ve heard from Israel today:

What Hezbollah has said: Following Iran’s missile attacks against Israel, Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammad Afif made his first public remarks on the developments from amid the rubble of a building struck down by an Israeli airstrike in recent days. “For all those who doubted Iran’s stance after the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh until recent weeks have been smacked in the mouth by a big rock,” Afif said in an impassioned statement. Here’s what else to note:

What Iran has said: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said while Iran does not seek war, it will deliver a “stronger response” if Israel retaliates following Iran’s missile attack Tuesday. “We were left with no choice but to respond. If Israel wants to react, we will have a stronger response,” Pezeshkian said. Here’s other notable news from Iran:

US response: President Joe Biden said he will speak to Netanyahu “relatively soon.” Here’s what the US position is:

An apartment building hit by an airstrike is seen, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Thursday, October 3.

Three explosions shook Beirut’s southern suburbs twenty minutes before midnight. Thick smoke quickly obscured the lights on the mountains above, drifting across the heart of the city.

Another night of air strikes has begun.

Unlike Monday night, there were no warnings posted by the Arabic spokesperson from the Israeli military advising people to leave.

Then forty minutes later, from CNN’s rooftop position in west Beirut, a swoosh and a sharp blast could be heard. This time it wasn’t in what is known as Dahiyeh — the southern suburbs where Hezbollah has a large presence. It was the Bashoura neighborhood in the very heart of Beirut, an area that hasn’t been struck since the war in 2006.

It is just up the street from CNN’s Beirut bureau, a bustling working-class neighborhood next to an old graveyard. It’s an area where some of the population of more than a million people who have fled bombing elsewhere had taken refuge, hoping it might be safe.

It also sits next to what is known as the Ring Road, a four-lane highway linking east and west Beirut.

CNN is receiving reports that the strike sent terrified people into the streets, fleeing the area. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reports a preliminary death toll of six people, with seven wounded.

Then came another loud blast, this time in the southern suburbs. And another blast.

It’s going to be another long night in Beirut.

An Israeli airstrike on central Beirut hit a building that housed the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority, a resident of the neighborhood told CNN.

The authority had an office on one floor of the building which was hit during a wave of strikes on the Lebanese capital in the early hours of Thursday morning local time.

A CNN team heard a loud bang followed by a plume of smoke rising from the Bashoura area in Beirut. Video showed families leaving the neighborhood amid the wreckage left behind by the attack. The residential area that was hit is known to be dominated by Hezbollah’s Shia allies, Amal.

It was the first time Israel struck the heart of the capital since the last all-out war between the two countries in 2006.

The death toll from the strike in central Beirut rose to six people when “three of the wounded died from their serious injuries,” the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said all seven of the wounded are still being treated in the hospitals where they transferred to.

A CNN team in Beirut heard loud explosions and saw smoke rising above central Beirut just after midnight local time on Thursday.

The post was updated to reflect the latest death toll from the strike in central Beirut.

A frame from a CNN video shows a possible interception over Tel Aviv.

A CNN team in Tel Aviv saw what appeared to be intercepts in the sky over the sea.

The Israeli military confirmed it intercepted an aerial target over central Israel.

This post has been updated with additional information from the Israel Defense Forces.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued new evacuation orders for five buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh.

CNN verified that one building in this area had already been struck earlier on Thursday morning local time, but it was not one of the five buildings the IDF ordered residents to evacuate from.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, warned residents that they are located near Hezbollah facilities which the Israeli military will act against “in the near future.”

A central Beirut neighborhood was hit in a strike in the early hours of Thursday local time, CNN confirmed through geolocating the area.

CNN has verified imagery showing the impact of the strike that hit the Lebanese capital.

In response to the strike in the southern suburbs, the Israeli military said it conducted a precise strike in Beirut. When asked about the strike in central Beirut, the military referred CNN to its previous statement.

The strike hit Beirut’s Bachoura neighborhood, near the city’s downtown.

Watch video of the moment the strike hit Beirut’s Bachoura neighborhood:

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See moment strike hits Beirut’s Bachoura neighborhood

00:06 - Source: CNN

Important context: Israeli strikes in central Beirut are rare. The Thursday morning attack is the first Israeli strike to hit the heart of the capital since the last all-out war between Lebanon and Israel in 2006. Even then, Israel rarely targeted the city center. This is the second strike since 2006 to hit within Beirut city limits, with the first being near Cola bridge early Monday morning local time.

Just before the strike on central Beirut, a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs — a Hezbollah stronghold — destroyed a multi-story building in the residential Haret Hreik neighborhood, images geolocated by CNN appear to show.

An explosion is seen in Beirut, Lebanon on Wednesday, October 2.

A CNN team in Beirut heard loud explosions and saw smoke rising over central Beirut.

Earlier, three explosions were heard and smoke was seen over Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, October 2.

At least 46 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Another 85 have been injured, the ministry said.

The latest death toll comes as the Israeli military said there were 300 launches from Lebanon to Israel on Wednesday.

Smoke rises above Beirut's southern Dahiyeh neighborhood on Wednesday, October 2.

A CNN team on the ground heard three loud explosions around 11:40 p.m. local time (4:40 p.m. ET), and saw smoke rising above Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Shortly afterward, the Israel Defense Forces said it “conducted a precise strike in Beirut.”

US President Joe Biden is counseling Israel to take a proportional response to this week’s barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles, voicing opposition to a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear sites in the hopes of preventing the conflict that has erupted in the region from widening further.

American officials are not privately trying to persuade Israel to hold back on retaliating against Iran, two senior administration officials told CNN, a notable difference from April when Biden encouraged Israel to “take the win” following the successful interception of a barrage of Iranian drones and missiles.

Instead, Biden hopes Israel will adopt a measured approach that can both uphold its right to strike back while avoiding action that could prompt further retaliation and tip the region into full-scale war.

“No one’s saying don’t respond,” one senior administration official said. “No one’s saying, ‘Take the win.’”

How that message will be received by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains to be seen, particularly as his political standing appears more assured following successful efforts to degrade Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The stakes of the moment could not be higher. Biden has watched with mounting concern as tensions in the region have spiraled. Attempts at brokering ceasefire agreements both in Gaza and along the Israel-Lebanon border have been largely fruitless. And the pending American presidential election has elevated the stakes of trying to manage the crisis.

Read more on how the US is counseling Israel following Iran’s missile attack.

The aftermath of an Israeli strike on an UNRWA school building in Gaza on Wednesday, October 2.

Eight people were killed in an Israeli strike on UN school building in Gaza, hospital officials in the area said Wednesday.

Wounded victims, including children, were rushed to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after the attack at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East school building.

The Israeli Air Force had conducted a “precise strike” on a former school for girls in the area, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said, alleging that it was being used as a command and control center by Hamas.

“The command and control center, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the ‘Nuseirat Girls’ School, was used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel,” the IDF statement said.

The IDF added that it took “numerous steps” to mitigate danger to civilians, “including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”

What CNN footage showed: Multiple children wounded in the strike arrived at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, including 3-month-old named Hala. The man holding Hala rushed her into the emergency room and placed her on a bed that had no mattress. Her body was covered in shrapnel injuries, and her head was wrapped in a white bandage. She shivered as a doctor examined her wounds. When he turned her around, it became apparent that she had been burned.

“Suddenly, the rocket hit, and everyone was gone,” Hala’s grandmother told CNN. “This is my granddaughter, Hala Ahmad. She is 3-months-old. I don’t know where her mother is. I took the little ones and ran. I don’t know what happened to their mom.”

The footage also showed a man lying on the floor, covered in blood and injuries. On the bed beside him, another injured child lay unconscious. Another child was brought into the emergency room and placed on the bed next to the baby.

Another witness, Riham Qannufa, told CNN:

A general view at the Supernova Music Festival site where hundreds were killed and dozens taken by Hamas militants near the border with Gaza on October 12, 2023 in Kibbutz Re'im , Israel.

A survivor from the October 7 Nova music festival massacre has been praised as a “hero” after he responded to two men opening fire near his home in Tel Aviv in a shooting and stabbing attack on Tuesday that killed at least seven people and injured 12.

In a video posted online, Lev Kreitman was filmed from a nearby building in the neighborhood of Jaffa – apparently wearing a pink shirt and white shorts – firing a gun at an unknown target before running away. In another video, Kreitman, in the same clothing, was seen walking in the background among IDF soldiers who were on the scene of the attack.

After the incident took place, Kreitman spoke to CNN affiliate Channel 11 and said he had a handgun on him after serving for six months in Gaza as a reservist with the IDF. He recalled Tuesday’s incident saying how he spotted “two terrorists” with one moving toward him.

“The other goes somewhere else, runs somewhere else, and I’m here, right where we’re standing, I surprised him from the side, shoot,” Kreitman said, adding he understood straight away it was an attack.

“I tried to do my best in the very crazy situation, amidst alarms, missiles, and interceptions in the sky.”

In a post on X, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called Kreitman a “hero who neutralized the attack” in Jaffa and acted “bravely” in the October 7 attack as he “saved many people,” and used the opportunity to call for more Israelis to arm themselves.

“Six months ago, he [Kreitman] submitted an application for a licence to carry personal weapon following the reform we led in which over 120,000 people armed themselves with personal weapons this year,” Ben-Gvir said. “Go arm yourself, it saves lives.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Tuesday’s attack and sent condolences to the families of those who were killed.

Protesters gather in Ceasarea, near Netanyahu's private residence, where hostage families have set a dinner table for Rosh Hashanah.

Family members of hostages still in Gaza held an open-air banquet on Wednesday to both mark Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and call for the release of their loved ones.

At the demonstration held near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal town of Caesarea, protesters placed fake headstones alongside the long banquet table, symbolizing the hostages who have been killed in Gaza.

The banquet table was draped with a tablecloth bearing the slogan: “Let the old year and its abandonment come to an end.”

Organizers said the event was being held to convey their “refusal to celebrate Rosh Hashanah” during the present “reckless reality.”

“Many Israeli women and men are unable to celebrate when a year has passed and 101 hostages are still not here with us, and every opportunity for a deal is being torpedoed by the Israeli government and its leader,” organizers said in the statement.

Hostage families light a sign that reads 'HOPE' for the Jewish New Year.

As nightfall descended, a crowd began to gather and chant loudly, calling for the hostages to be released. The Israeli flag was lowered to half-staff during the event in a local cemetery. Family members also lit a sign emblazoned with the Hebrew word for “hope.”

A top US State Department official said the US’s “dominant message is, ‘let’s take great care in whatever we do with respect to Iran,’” following a missile attack by Tehran on Israel Tuesday.

Israel has vowed a response to that attack, and US officials have concurred that there must be “consequences.” Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell noted Wednesday that “with respect to the Iranian attack on Israel, it is not just Israel that is thinking about its response options; it is also the United States.”

“The likely engagements over the next few days are to try to align, as much as we can, perspectives between Israel and the United States,” he said.

The US recognizes that a response of some kind is important, but it also realizes that the region “is really balancing on a knife’s edge, and real concerns about an even broader escalation or a continuing one, not just simply an exchange of isolated salvos, but of more sustained hostility, which could imperil not just Israel, but our strategic interests as well,” he said at a virtual event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

He said the administration and US President Joe Biden will seek to “compare notes” with Israel, noting there have been “major efforts on both sides to keep lines of communication open and to make sure that perspectives are understood.”

“There have been moments of surprise, I don’t think that’s a secret, over the course the last couple of months,” he acknowledged.

“We’ve stated all along our determination to support Israel. Its security challenges are real. Their responses are legitimate. But at the same time, I think we also recognize that the longer that these conflicts go on, the challenges and the uncertainties associated with unpredictable issues associated with escalation, they’re just very real,” Campbell said.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a press conference in Doha on Wednesday, October 2.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that while Iran does not seek war, it will deliver a “stronger response” if Israel retaliates following Iran’s missile attack Tuesday.

Speaking in Doha alongside Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Wednesday, Pezeshkian accused Israel of instigating insecurity in the region and condemned what he described as historical crimes.

Hours after Tuesday’s unprecedented attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Iran made a big mistake tonight — and it will pay for it.”

Pezeshkian’s remarks come after Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles in Tuesday’s barrage, which it said was in response to the killings of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani looks on during the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East at the United Nations headquarters on Wednesday, October 2, in New York.

Iran’s missile attack on Israel was a “necessary and proportionate response” to Israel’s “aggressive acts” in the Middle East over the past few months, the Iranian envoy to the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Amir Saeid Iravani told the UN Security Council that Israel “only understands the language of force,” warning that any acts of aggression would not go unpunished.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said countries that helped block missiles targeting Israel on Tuesday would be “held responsible.”

The threat environment in the United States “remains high” ahead of the November presidential election and conflict in the Middle East, according to a new assessment by the Department of Homeland Security.

The annual assessment released Wednesday warns of possible threats from violent extremists driven by the heated political environment in the US as well as foreign and domestic threats from terrorist groups and others inspired by conflicts abroad. It also comes amid a wider conflict in the Middle East after Israel assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and began a ground offensive in Lebanon. Iran retaliated on Tuesday by launching nearly 200 missiles at Israel.

A senior DHS official told reporters Wednesday that the department is still working to figure out what Iran’s escalatory attack on Israel in recent days could mean for US security.

The official also noted that the attack from Iran, paired with the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel last year, could “drive particular violent extremists here in the homeland to accelerate or look to take action on a timeline that may not have been anticipated.”

“We are literally in the earliest days of trying to understand what exactly Iranian intentions might be,” the official said.

Some of those intentions of Iran and other countries, according to officials and the report itself, are to sow confusion and chaos in the US 2024 presidential election.

Read more on the DHS assessment.

The US organized a charter flight for Americans to depart Lebanon on Wednesday and plans to offer future flights based on demand, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said.

There were just over 100 people, including Americans and family members of American citizens, on the flight today, he said. The flight flew from Beirut to Istanbul.

Around 7,000 people have registered with the State Department to get more information about US-supported ways to depart Lebanon.

“Some of those, I presume, will eventually look to depart Lebanon, and some of them will want to stay,” Miller said, adding that “their plans may change over time.”

While the State Department is taking this new step in assisting Americans who are looking to leave Lebanon, the Biden administration has not stood up a non-combatant evacuation (NEO) in the country, which would trigger a process to support the ordered departure of nonessential American personal from the country.

Hezbollah has claimed over two dozen attacks on Wednesday that mostly targeted Israeli troops amassing at the border in preparation for an invasion of south Lebanon.

The increased rate of short-range attacks suggests that Hezbollah has focused its firepower on repelling an Israeli ground offensive. Israeli forces breached the border from at least three locations on Wednesday, and later withdrew, according to the Lebanese army and a United Nations peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) source.

At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in Lebanon, according to the country’s military. Hezbollah said it was engaged in seven clashes with advancing Israeli forces in Lebanon.

Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, on October 2.

Forty-seven people were taken to three hospitals after Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants engaged in fighting in Lebanon on Wednesday, the hospitals said.

The hospitals didn’t specify if the injured were soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces, but Beilinson said that the wounded were from the “incident in Lebanon,” while Ziv and Rambam both announced they treated the injured after the IDF announced they had engaged in fighting with Hezbollah militants.

Earlier, the Israeli military confirmed the death of eight soldiers killed in combat in Lebanon, and Hezbollah said it clashed with Israeli forces inside southern Lebanon.

US officials are not privately trying to persuade Israel to hold back on retaliating against Iran in the aftermath of Tuesday’s attack, two senior Biden administration officials tell CNN.

This is a notable difference from April, when Iran’s attacks on Israel then had prompted US President Joe Biden to urge Israel to walk away and “take the win.”

“No one’s saying don’t respond,” one senior administration official said. “No one’s saying ‘take the win.’”

Israel did respond against Iran but in a limited way, striking an air defense system in Isfahan. But now a bigger Israeli counterattack is expected that could include a whole range of targets, with concern they could include Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The administration currently assesses that it’s unlikely Israel would strike Iran’s nuclear sites. One senior official said Israel still hasn’t decided.

Biden told reporters on Wednesday that Israel should not take that course of action but said, “Israel has a right to respond. It should be a proportional response.”

No Israelis were hurt or killed in Tuesday’s Iranian attack that appeared to target military and intelligence facilities. One Palestinian man was killed in the West Bank by shrapnel from an interceptor missile launched by Israel, according to the hospital where he was treated.

With the three-day Jewish New Year holiday Rosh Hashanah starting on Wednesday, that could push back the Israeli response, which was not immediate after Iran’s attack midday on Tuesday.

“They have the holiday so that buys time and space,” one of the senior US officials said.

Responding to reports that a US citizen was killed in Lebanon, the State Department said that the individual killed was in fact a legal permanent resident of the US.

“It’s our understanding that it was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen, but we obviously offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller at a news briefing.

Miller did not provide details on how the individual was killed.

Israeli border guards deploy at the scene of a shooting attack outside al-Nuzha mosque along Jersalem Boulevard in Jaffa south of Tel Aviv on October 1.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that left at least seven people dead and 16 wounded.

The militant group said two of its fighters from the city of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, carried out the attack in different locations, including a train station.

Israeli police said on Wednesday that the attackers were stopped by security forces and civilians who used personal guns. One of the attackers was killed at the scene. The other was severely injured.

Israeli strikes in recent weeks have destroyed about 50% of Hezbollah’s arsenal, a formidable collection of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as rockets, according to senior US and Israeli officials.

Multiple officials described the organization as “decapitated” after a series of Israeli operations decimated Hezbollah’s leadership structure, including a covert operation that caused dozens of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon to explode and the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah.

Take a look at what the group’s publicly known arsenal was capable of:

But multiple officials cautioned that the group still has inventory hidden away. Israel has not destroyed all of Hezbollah’s arsenal — and it was not immediately clear which projectiles have been destroyed. It’s possible the group has retained a proportion of its more sophisticated long-range fire options, like ballistic and cruise missiles, which current and former US officials said the group has so far held back from using in recent exchanges with Israel.

One US official noted that Israel had largely destroyed “forward deployed, less advance missiles” — although, this person noted, with the destruction of Hezbollah’s leadership, it’s an open question who might order the firing of remaining stockpiles.

The overall picture is of a terror group that has been severely degraded — the group notably did not participate in Monday’s Iranian attack on Israel — but remains dangerous. For nearly a year, US intelligence officials have assessed that Hezbollah did not want to invite full-scale war with Israel. Some US analysts are now quietly questioning whether the punishing campaign Israel has carried out may have removed any incentive the group has to avoid escalation, or not to return to a strategy of launching international terror attacks.

Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, on August 21.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Iran needs to “be stopped” as tensions ramp up in the Middle East.

Iran’s attack on Israel Tuesday — in which Iran launched about 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli military targets — “shows that they must be stopped,” Pelosi said on Wednesday, but added that “we want to avoid a bigger war.”

Pelosi said she doesn’t think “we should get into an open discussion now as to how to deal with (Iran’s) nuclear” capabilities. US President Joe Biden said earlier today that he does not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites.

Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

When asked if she trusted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision-making and judgment, Pelosi said the Israeli leader should be focused on freeing hostages held in Gaza “first and foremost.”

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading cross-border fire since the day after the October 7 terror attacks last year, but Israel’s launch Tuesday of what it described as a “limited” and “localized” ground operation in Lebanon have taken people on both sides into a new reality.

While Israel insists its actions in Lebanon do not amount to a major incursion, the situation on the ground seems to suggest it is preparing for the possibility of expanding its presence there.

The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it was sending an additional division — consisting of thousands of soldiers — to participate in the ground war. Driving around the border area on Tuesday, CNN saw a number of military vehicles and troops and heard fighter jets.

Hezbollah and Israel both said on Wednesday that their forces clashed in southern Lebanon, and the IDF announced that eight Israeli soldiers were killed in combat — the first casualties of the ground operation there.

Separately, Hezbollah claimed to have hit an Israeli military barracks with rockets near Shomera, on the Israel-Lebanon border, in the early hours of Wednesday.

Israel’s Rambam Hospital said there was an “incident” in the north, but that it could not comment on the numbers of people admitted for treatment.

But while these events, coupled with the noticeable troop buildup on the border, suggest the fighting might soon intensify, both Israel and Lebanon are seemingly seeking to downplay the situation.

Why would they look to downplay? Both have a good reason to do so. Israel is already facing severe criticism over the war in Gaza — and while many of its allies say they support its right to defend itself, they have called on Israel to exercise restraint in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, is desperate to project strength after being greatly weakened by a string of attacks which killed many of its top leaders, including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has sent a stark message regarding a potential retaliatory attack on Iran, warning that Israel has the means to “strike any target in the Middle East.”

Visiting the Tel Nof Air Base on Wednesday, Halevi said Israel knows how to “locate important targets” and will respond to Iran’s attack with strikes of “precision and power.”

While Israelis across the country celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, on Wednesday, Halevi said the Israeli military is still “operating and striking on all fronts.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a similar warning in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s missile strikes from Iran, promising that Tehran “will pay” for its actions.

Netanyahu accused Tehran of failing to understand Israel’s “determination to retaliate” against its enemies and promised to strike back.

Wednesday’s comments echo Netanyahu’s first public statement after an Israeli airstrike killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, in Beirut on Friday.

“There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel will not reach,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and US President Joe Biden.

US President Joe Biden says he’ll likely speak to his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “relatively soon,” following Iran’s missile attack on Israel.

“I’ll probably be talking to him relatively soon,” Biden told reporters at Joint Base Answers.

Biden and Netanyahu last spoke on August 21, according to White House readouts. Since then, the situation in the region has grown dramatically more tense as Israel seeks to degrade Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Biden said the US was offering advice directly to Israeli officials about the country’s potential response to the attack.

“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do,” Biden said.

“We’ve been talking to Bibi’s people the whole time,” he added, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

Biden’s phone calls with Netanyahu over the past year have at times grown tense as the two men diverge over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden says he does not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites.

“The answer is no,” Biden said when questioned about the prospect of Israel launching a retaliatory strike on sites related to Iran’s nuclear program.

He said the United States would discuss with the Israelis how they might respond to Iran’s missile attack.

He said all members of the Group of 7, with whom he’d conversed in a phone call earlier Wednesday, agreed that Israel should “respond proportionally.”

“Iran is way off course,” he said.

G7 leaders are considering new sanctions against Iran, according to a White House statement.

More background: US officials have long assessed that both Iran and senior Hezbollah leadership has wanted to avoid all-out war with Israel, even as both have exchanged fire.

One big fear for US and Arab diplomats is the possibility of Israel striking inside Iran, potentially against its nuclear facilities. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged Israel to retaliate by destroying its nuclear program.

But Iran has made clear that any response from Israel would result in further escalation. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday’s operation was “only a portion of our power.”

Israel is likely eyeing Iran’s nuclear facilities as it determines its response to Tehran’s missile attack, according to Malcolm Davis, senior analyst for defense strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“From Israel’s perspective, it cannot allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. There would certainly be strong pressure within Netanyahu’s cabinet to attack those nuclear facilities and essentially set back the Iranian nuclear weapons program, potentially for years,” Davis told CNN’s Becky Anderson.

World leaders are considering new sanctions against Iran in the aftermath of Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel, according to the White House. Those moves, the White House said in a readout, were discussed during a call between President Joe Biden and his G7 counterparts.

“Today, President Biden joined a call with the G7 to discuss Iran’s unacceptable attack against Israel and to coordinate on a response to this attack, including new sanctions,” the statement said.

The world is awaiting Israel’s response to Iran’s attack, with high stakes for the Biden administration amid fears of an escalating regional conflict just 34 days until the US election.

Biden has said the US remains “fully supportive” of Israel and that there is “active discussion” on an appropriate response.

Ora Hatan speaks on the phone at her house near the Israeli border with Lebanon.

The perpetual buzz of drones hovering above the village of Shtula in northern Israel was interrupted by several loud booms of artillery fire on Tuesday afternoon, followed by the piercing sound of sirens warning the few remaining residents of incoming fire.

But, while everyone rushed for cover, Ora Hatan stayed put. The 61-year-old is used to the reality of life on the Israel-Lebanon border. Frequent cross-border fire and the threat of war don’t seem to scare her – even though her neighbor’s house was hit by a rocket not long ago.

Israel evacuated some 60,000 people from this and neighboring regions shortly after the October 7 terror attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza sparked a new wave of violence by Hezbollah along the northern border.

But Hatan refused to leave.

“It’s my country, it’s my home, it’s my land,” she said.

Hatan, who lived in the same house in 2006, when Israel invaded Lebanon, said she is hoping there won’t be a major ground war.

“I think that we can protect the border by plane. Or to go (in) and come back… But not stay (in Lebanon), it’s too dangerous,” she said, adding that she believes the solution to the current crisis will eventually be found in an agreement.

“So why sacrifice people for this war?” she said.

Hatan has spent most of the last two days cooking a feast to celebrate the Jewish New Year, which started on Wednesday. As she rushed around the kitchen, the howls of jackals sounded in the background, possibly startled by the sounds of combat.

She told CNN she cooked 50 chickens, dozens of pounds of beef, vegetable sides and other delicacies. The Israeli soldiers stationed nearby were coming to pick up the food later.

Hatan said she was not worried about having soldiers around. “I’m sure that (Hezbollah) see me, that I live here, that I feed the animals and I’m staying here,” she said standing on her terrace, the Lebanese border just a mile away.

CNN’s Sarah Boxer, Michael Schwarz, Maksim Kataev and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.

Three civilians were killed and three others were wounded in an Israeli strike in the Mezzah neighborhood of Damascus on Wednesday, Syrian state news agency SANA said, citing a military source.

The strike targeted a residential building and caused damage to private properties nearby, SANA added.

Asked about reports of the strike, the Israeli military told CNN that it does not comment on foreign reports.

The purported strike comes after SANA reported that three people were killed, including a Syrian TV journalist, in another Israeli strike on Damascus overnight Tuesday. The Israeli military declined to comment on that incident.

Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif gives a news conference on Wednesday from the site of an Israeli airstrike.

As news began to pour in about clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters inside Lebanon on Wednesday, the Iran-backed militant group was conducting a media tour around destroyed parts of southern Beirut.

The fighting on Lebanese territory was a major development, the first signs of Israel’s anticipated ground invasion of the southern part of the country. Lebanon’s army has said that Israeli troops forced breached the border on Wednesday, advancing around 400 meters (around 440 yards) before withdrawing. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has confirmed that eight of its soldiers were killed in combat.

In southern Beirut, Hezbollah’s seat of power, the group’s spokesperson Mohammad Afif made his first public remarks on the developments from amid the rubble of a building struck down by an Israeli airstrike in recent days.

“We engaged in clashes in Adayseh in the morning and in Maroun al-Ras just minutes before the press conference,” said Afif, referring to Lebanese border villages where Israel is reported to have conducted an incursion.

Behind him, mounds of debris were adorned with Hezbollah banners and posters of its late leader Hassan Nasrallah. These were the first images produced by the group since Nasrallah’s death in an Israeli airstrike last Friday – a halo around his head signifies his passing.

Afif spoke as reports emerged of the Israeli military and Hezbollah fighting inside Lebanon.

Afif also issued Hezbollah’s first reaction to Iran’s missile strikes on Israel last night, which Tehran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said avenged Nasrallah’s death.

Press access to the southern suburbs of Beirut, a densely populated neighborhood, is rare. During the media tour, which covered the eastern part of the vicinity, CNN saw sidewalks covered in shattered glass, blown-out storefronts and a collapsed building on nearly every other block.

It was the first time the CNN team, which reports frequently from Beirut, had seen the aftermath of more than five days of Israeli bombardment in this part of the Lebanese capital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Israel, on June 8.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent condolences to the families of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon on Wednesday.

Eight Israeli troops have been killed in combat since their offensive began in southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli military.

Israel remains locked in the “middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil which seeks to destroy us,” the Israeli leader added.

On Tuesday night, the conflict between the two warring nations intensified once again after Iran fired around 200 ballistic missiles as part of nationwide attack on Israeli territory.

Speaking just hours after the Iranian assault, Netanyahu promised not to allow Iran to win, stressing that Israelis will “stand” and “win together.”

The Israeli military announced the deaths of seven additional Israeli soldiers who were killed in combat in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, bringing the total toll since the offensive began to eight.

The Israel Defense Forces said an officer and four soldiers from the Egoz Unit were “severely injured.”

The IDF did not say which areas in southern Lebanon the soldiers were killed. In addition to the Egoz Unit, the soldiers served in the Golani Brigade and the Yahalom Unit.

Earlier Wednesday, the IDF announced the death of another soldier.

Hezbollah said in separate statements that it had targeted Israeli forces in three different villages in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese army has said that an Israeli force breached 400 meters (about a quarter mile) in Lebanon and withdrew shortly after.

President Joe Biden speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington D.C., on February 8.

US President Joe Biden will participate in a call with G7 leaders today to discuss the situation in the Middle East, a source familiar with the call said.

The call comes as the US and allies are awaiting word on how Israel plans to respond to Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday. US officials have said Iran will face “severe consequences” for the attack, and officials across the Biden administration have remained in regular contact with Israeli counterparts as they determine their next steps

Top officials from several G7 countries, including, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, have all condemned Iran’s attack on Israel, warning of potentially disastrous consequences for the wider region.

Several Iranian missiles struck Israeli military bases on Tuesday night, an Israeli military source told CNN, but insisted there was no major damage to the facilities.

“There is no harm to the functionality of the IAF (Israeli Air Force),” the source said.

The source said there were “a few hits,” but that they failed to hit “essential infrastructure.”

As Israel’s ground operation in southern Lebanon intensifies, the Israel Defense Forces has sent evacuation orders to 51 villages, instructing residents to move north.

The area under the IDF evacuation orders makes up a quarter of all Lebanese territory, with its inhabitants pushed more than 30 miles north of their homes.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during an interview with at the United Nations headquarters on September 16, in New York City.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has declared United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata in Israel, effectively barring him from entering the country.

The announcement was made on Wednesday in response to what Katz described as Guterres’ failure to unequivocally condemn Iran’s attack on Israel and what he called his support for terrorist organizations.

“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil,” Katz said. He accused Guterres of being an anti-Israel UN chief who provides “support to terrorists,” such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iran.

The decision follows a series of statements from Guterres that, according to Katz, reflect a continued bias against Israel since the start of the conflict. Katz criticized the UN leader for failing to take a firm stance on Hamas’ atrocities on October 7, 2023, and for failing to push for resolutions designating the group as a terrorist organization.

Guterres rejected the designation from Katz, responding to it at the United Nations General Assembly:

This post has been updated with response from Guterres.

A somber mood has fallen over Tehran as citizens fear a massive retaliatory attack on their country after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel Tuesday night.

Tehran residents told CNN that many venues, including movie theaters, were already shut in mourning over the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, who was killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut last week.

In response, Iran launched a salvo of about 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli targets on Tuesday, its largest-ever such attack, sending sirens blaring across Israel and activating the country’s sophisticated defense systems.

Asked how they plan to prepare for a possible retaliation, one Iranian, who did not wish to give their name for fear of retribution, said: “I’ve told my family to leave Tehran if they can,” adding that while Israel could target Iran’s nuclear facilities, it may also “hit the city.”

Not everyone is prepared to leave, however. “We didn’t leave during Iran-Iraq war,” said another resident of Tehran, referring to the eight-year conflict between the two states in the 1980s.

A female resident said Israel is likely to hit nuclear sites first, then “we will see what happens after,” before adding, “Where would we go anyway?”

The Israeli military confirmed Wednesday the death of the first soldier during fighting in Lebanon.

A 22-year-old squad commander in the Israel Defense Forces Commando Brigade “fell during combat,” according to a statement by the IDF.

Hezbollah said it clashed with Israeli forces inside southern Lebanon earlier. The IDF did not say where in Lebanon the soldier was killed.

An excavator works by a crater left by an exploded projectile at a heavily-damaged school building in Israel's southern city of Gedera on October 1.

Iran’s missile attack against Israel on Tuesday was intended to signal that Tehran’s arsenal is capable of inflicting mass casualties, Middle East experts say.

Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of Amwaj.media, a London-based news site focused on covering the Middle East, said that unlike its attack on Israel in April — which was meant to merely showcase Iran’s capabilities and had been telegraphed in advance, allowing it to be largely thwarted — Tuesday’s barrage was intended to send the message that Iran can inflict significant damage if it chooses to.

“The (Iranian) response was measured and geared to send a message through accuracy and ability to bypass Israeli air defenses, rather than inflicting mass casualties,” Shabani said.

Ali Ahmadi, an executive fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, said that “Iran’s April attack was deliberately designed to be ineffective so as to not escalate,” but the feeling in Iran is that it was taken as a sign of weakness.

Others disagree, however. Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank in Washington, DC, said Iran’s actions were meant to show that it is indeed responding to Israel’s recent assassinations of key Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, “both by domestic and foreign audiences for purposes of regime security and survival.”

He noted, however, that despite the lack of mass casualties, “we cannot assume that a desire to wash blood away with blood was not present.” The lack of damage had more to do with Israel’s defense systems as well as the US and other regional allies’ support, he said.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters have engaged in fighting on the ground in southern Lebanon, both have confirmed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has had “close-range engagements,” destroyed more than 150 “terrorist infrastructure sites,” and “eliminated terrorists” in southern Lebanon in a post on X.

Hezbollah spokesperson Mohamed Afif told reporters in Beirut that the Iran-backed group clashed with Israeli forces in Aadeyseh. In a separate statement it said clashes are ongoing with Israeli soldiers in the southern Lebanese village of Maroun Al-Ras.

The Israeli military has not commented on the Hezbollah claim. The IDF spokesperson has implored people “not to share reports about the activities of the forces, due to the security of our forces. Stick to the official reports only and do not spread irresponsible rumors.”

IDF handout photo geolocated to be in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s military said Wednesday an Israeli military force breached the border, reaching 400 meters (about a quarter of a mile) into Lebanese territory before withdrawing.

“An Israeli enemy force breached the Blue Line by approximately 400 meters into Lebanese territory in the areas of Khirbet Yaroun and the Aadeyseh, then withdrew after a short period,” the army said.

The Blue Line is a reference to the demarcation border area that separates Israel and Lebanon.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

The IDF also released a photo of its troops inside Lebanon that CNN has geolocated to be inside southern Lebanon.

Countries that helped block missiles targeting Israel will “be held responsible,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday.

Araghchi was responding to a question from reporters on Jordan’s help in intercepting projectiles fired from Iran towards Israel on Tuesday. The US and UK were also involved in defending Israel.

Iran fired scores of missiles at Israel in response to the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week.

Jordan’s military said in a statement following the Iranian attack that all units and formations in its armed forces’ general command have been put on “on high alert to confront any attempts that threaten the security and stability of the kingdom.”

“Jordan’s position has always been that it will not be a battleground for anyone, protecting Jordan and its people is our number one responsibility,” Mohammad al-Momani, Minister of Government Communication, told the state-funded al-Mamlaka TV channel on Wednesday.

Jordan, a US ally, helped intercept missiles during another Iranian attack targeting Israel in April, sparking warnings from Tehran.

Iran’s attack on Israel Tuesday injured three people in Jordan and missile fragments fell in different parts of the country, including the capital Amman.

Jordanian state media broadcasts showed damage in several locations including one report from Balqa governorate, northwest of Amman, where a reporter said a 2-meter (6′ 7″) missile fragment had landed.

After carrying out its biggest ballistic missile attack on Israel Tuesday, Iran has said it is “absolutely” not interested in a wider war.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters on Wednesday that Israel is responsible for the regional escalation and that Tehran is acting in self-defense. Iran fired 180 projectiles at Israel, according to the Israeli military, most of which were intercepted — although some landed on the ground in Israel.

Speaking after the assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran made a “big mistake” and “will pay” for it. “The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies,” he said.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what else to know:

Israel sending troops: The Israeli military is sending an additional division to participate in the ground war in southern Lebanon, it announced Wednesday. The size of Israeli military units are classified, but a division typically consists of at least 10,000 troops.

Homes in central Israel damaged: Shock waves caused by Iran’s missile attack have damaged homes in central Israel, authorities in the country said Wednesday.

Gaza death toll: In Gaza, At least 90 people were killed in multiple Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight as the war in the enclave shows no letup. At least 51 people were killed and dozens injured during an Israeli incursion in Khan Younis overnight, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Wednesday.

Houthi attacks on Israel: Yemen’s Houthi militant group said it fired three cruise missiles toward Israel that successfully reached their targets on Wednesday, without providing evidence to support the claim.

Palestinians carry the body of a woman casualty at the site of Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 2.

At least 90 people have been killed in multiple Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight as the war in the enclave shows no letup.

At least 51 people were killed and dozens injured during an Israeli incursion in Khan Younis overnight, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Wednesday.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads,” the ministry said, adding that “ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them.”

A member of the Gaza Civil Defense said Israeli strikes began on Tuesday in an area “where hundreds of displaced people were taking shelter” and teams were facing difficulty in recovery missions because of a lack of equipment.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on the incursion in Khan Younis.

In Gaza City, the Israeli military said it carried out strikes on two schools. At least 21 people were killed in the strikes on the sites where Palestinians were sheltering, many of them children, the Civil Defense and a medical source at Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said. The Israeli military said it carried out “precise” strikes, and that they were targeting a “Hamas command and control centers” inside “compounds that previously served” as schools in Gaza City.

In another incident in Gaza City, the Civil Defense and Al Ahli Hospital said four people were killed, including two children.

Israeli artillery shelling south of Wadi Gaza, near Netzarim, killed 14 people overnight, and airstrikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza, killed six people, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Dead and shrouded children were brought into the hospital after a strike south of Wadi Gaza, the video shows. One of them is clearly only a few months old and her father bends down to clear her face from dust and sand.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment. Earlier, they had said “troops identified dozens of suspects moving toward” them and “posing an immediate threat to them.” The soldiers opened fire at the suspects and “hits were identified.”

The Israeli military has urged residents of two dozen villages in southwest Lebanon, located within 18 miles (30 kilometers) of the border, to move about 31 miles further into the country.

Where is the Awali river? The Awali river is north of the city of Sidon, and just south of Beirut. The total land mass south of the river represents a quarter of Lebanese territory. The affected villages are primarily located in the southwestern region of the country and around the main city of Tyre.

The warnings come a day after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 27 villages on Tuesday. Wednesday’s warning expands the evacuation notice further to the west within southern Lebanon.

The spokesperson repeated earlier calls for residents not to travel “using vehicles” north of the Litani River towards southern Lebanon.

An anti-Israel billboard is displayed on a building in Tehran, Iran, on October 2.

Iran insisted it has “absolutely no interest in a broader war,” hours after it fired dozens of missiles at Israel in response to the assassinations of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters on Wednesday that Israel is responsible for the regional escalation and that Tehran is acting in self-defense.

Iran “restrained” itself after the assassination of Haniyeh “despite demands” from its people to respond, Mohajerani said, “because it was interested in peace in Gaza.” Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in July in an attack widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.

The spokeswoman said Israel “fueled this atmosphere,” but added that “we will never allow an inch of our soil or the dignity of Iran to be stained.”

Iran fired 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. Many were intercepted, the Israeli military said, although some hit the ground in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Deadly fighting between Israel and Iran-backed militant groups has ramped up in recent weeks as the Israeli military expands its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Along with Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7, Hezbollah is part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” an alliance of Islamist militias spanning Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. The proxies give Iran strategic depth against its enemies.

In support of Hamas and Palestinians, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis have launched regular attacks on Israel over the past year. They have vowed to keep fighting until the war in Gaza ends.

Here’s what to know about the groups:

Hezbollah: The Lebanese group is believed to be the most heavily armed non-state group in the world. The Shiite group emerged out of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Israel occupied southern Lebanon for 18 years before it was driven out by Hezbollah. In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a war for 34 days, which ended with no clear victor.

The Houthis: The Shiite group, bolstered by Iranian weapons and technology, has been fighting Saudi-backed forces for more than a decade in Yemen’s civil war. While the Houthis do not pose as much of a threat to Israel as Hamas and Hezbollah, they have wreaked havoc over the past year in the Red Sea, where they have launched strikes at commercial ships they deemed linked to Israel and its allies, threatening to choke global trade.

Hamas: The group emerged in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group from Egypt. Hamas considers Israel’s existence as illegitimate and seeks its destruction. It receives funding, weapons and training from Iran.

The US has designated Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the length of Israel’s occupation in southern Lebanon. It was 18 years. The description of the goals of Hamas has also been updated to more accurately convey their meaning.

A convoy of Israeli army armoured personnel carriers moving on a road in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, on October 1.

The Israeli military is sending an additional division to participate in the ground war in southern Lebanon, it announced Wednesday.

The size of Israeli military units are classified, but a division typically consists of at least 10,000 troops.

The addition of such a large number of soldiers comes despite Israel’s claim that its operation in Lebanon is “limited, localized, targeted” –  a description it repeated today.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has ordered Lebanese civilians in dozens of villages to leave their homes and move north of the Awali River, which is about 30 miles north of the border with Israel.

The military said the 36th Division of the IDF and additional forces were joining its operations targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah. The division includes soldiers from the Golani Brigade, 188th Armored Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, the IDF said. They are accompanied by the Israeli Air Force and the 282nd Artillery Brigade, it added.

The military last month moved the elite 98th division from Gaza to northern Israel.

The number of Israeli troops on the ground in southern Lebanon remains unclear following the military’s announcement Tuesday of an incursion across its northern border.

The Israeli military has staged some “sporadic raids” across the Lebanon-Israel border but its troops have not remained on Lebanese soil, a source from the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon said. The assessment that Israel has not yet launched a full-scale invasion was supported by two other high-level Lebanese security sources.

Israeli troops laid the groundwork for the incursion in recent days, ramping up airstrikes that have killed more than a thousand people, destroyed homes and displaced about 1 million in Lebanon.

Some context: Previous military operations initially declared by Israel to be limited in their goals have proved to be anything but. Examples include Israel’s years-long occupation of southern Lebanon that began in 1982 with the stated aim of a brief and limited mission to destroy the Palestinian Liberation Organization in the country.

More recently, Israel’s military declared a “limited” operation in Rafah, southern Gaza that has left the city in ruins.

Israelis take cover as projectiles launched from Iran are being intercepted in the skies over in Rosh HaAyin, Israel, on October 1.

Iran’s attack has further changed the dynamics of Israel’s conflicts in the Middle East from a war involving Iran’s proxies toward a direct confrontation between two regional military powerhouses.

It’s the second time Iran has launched an aerial attack on Israel this year, but Tuesday’s barrage was of a different magnitude.

In April, Iran launched an unprecedented large-scale drone and missile attack at Israel – the first such direct assault on the country from its soil – in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria.

Iran gave 72 hours’ notice ahead of that attack, widely seen as designed to minimize casualties while maximizing spectacle with almost all projectiles intercepted. Israel responded with a limited strike on Iran.

This time, Israel learned about the threat just hours before.

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Iran’s Tuesday barrage was twice as large as the April attack. It also included many more ballistic missiles, which are harder to shoot down, posing a real threat to Israeli citizens.

No place for diplomacy? Diplomacy has so far failed to broker a deal between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. And the ceasefire and hostage negotiations between Iran-backed Hamas and Israel have floundered.

Until weeks ago, some senior US officials believed that Washington had helped to successfully thwart a large-scale Iranian attack against Israel, sources told CNN.

“I think Nasrallah was the final straw” for Iran, said Jonathan Panikoff, a former senior intelligence analyst specializing in the region.

With no off-ramp, and Israel appearing unwilling to compromise with its regional enemies, Tuesday’s attack is perhaps the clearest sign a much-feared regional war may be about to ignite.

The groundbreaking ceremony of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Iran, on November 10, 2019.

Israel is likely eyeing Iran’s nuclear facilities as it determines its response to Tehran’s missile attack, according to Malcolm Davis, senior analyst for defense strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Iran’s breakout time – the time needed to produce enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear weapon – is now at about one or two weeks, the United States has assessed.

Israel could target Iran’s nuclear facilities with a traditional military attack or a cyberattack more akin to what it used against Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies, intercepting the supply chain and adding explosives to the devices, Davis said.

“Whatever Israel does do, it has to be highly visible and it has to be seen to be decisive and successful.”

Tehran, meanwhile, is likely hoping “there will be some restraint,” said Salam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

Israel has made it clear it will do “whatever it can” to address its Iran security problem, which has required it to “take out as much of the command and control of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ — from Hamas to Hezbollah to targeting Iranian facilities in Syria,” Vakil told CNN’s Anderson.

Yemen’s Houthi militant group said they fired three cruise missiles toward Israel that successfully reached their targets on Wednesday, without providing evidence to support the claim.

The Houthis, part of an Iran-led alliance that has ramped up attacks on Israel and its allies since the war in Gaza began last year, said that it launched three Quds 5 cruise missiles.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military told CNN it was unaware of any attacks launched from Yemen.

The Houthis, who have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Strait of Bab al-Mandab since November, have said they will not stop until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.

The group also warned the United States and the United Kingdom on Wednesday that their support for Israel would continue to put their interests in the region at risk of attack.

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on October 1.

Iran has described its Tuesday attack as a calibrated response to repeated escalations from Israel.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the missile strikes were in response to the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders, including Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Along with Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7, Hezbollah is part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” — an alliance of Islamist militias spanning Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. The proxies give Iran strategic depth against its enemies.

Following the assassination of Hamas’ most public figure after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president in July, the world waited to see how Tehran would respond.

Then came Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah as it expanded its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a fiery speech directed at Iran, saying Israel was “changing the balance of power in the region” and that “there is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel will not reach.”

Nasrallah’s death was necessary, he said, to returning thousands of residents to their homes along the Lebanon border displaced by Hezbollah rocket attacks, and to prevent the group from launching a large-scale attack on Israel.

US officials have long assessed that both Iran and senior Hezbollah leadership has wanted to avoid all-out war with Israel, even as both have exchanged fire.

But Iran has made clear that any response from Israel would result in further escalation. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday’s operation was “only a portion of our power.”

A man takes photos of a destroyed building in Hod Hasharon, Israel, on October 2.

Shock waves caused by Iran’s missile attack have damaged homes in central Israel, authorities in the country said Wednesday.

Officials in the city of Hod Hasharon were providing assistance to about 100 affected households, the municipality said, adding that no injuries were reported.

Iran will extend the closure of its airspace until Thursday morning, according to the semi-official outlet Mehr News on Wednesday.

The organization had announced late Tuesday that all flights nationwide would be canceled until Wednesday morning.

An Iranian long-range Shahab-3 missile is seen before being tested from desert terrain at an unspecified location in Iran on September 28, 2009.

Tehran has thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles with a variety of ranges, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Exact numbers for each type of missile are unknown. But US Air Force Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told Congress in 2023 that Iran had “over 3,000” ballistic missiles, according to the Iran Watch website.

Ballistic missiles’ trajectories carry them outside or near the limits of Earth’s atmosphere, before the warhead payload separates from the rocket that carried it aloft and plunges back into the atmosphere and onto its target.

Weapons experts who analyzed verified social media videos of the attack on Israel told CNN that Iran used variants of the Shahab-3 ballistic missile.

The Shahab-3 is the foundation for all Iran’s medium-range ballistic missiles using a liquid propellant, according to Patrick Senft, a research coordinator at Armament Research Services.

Iranian media reported that Tehran used a new missile, the Fattah-1, in the attacks.

Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says the Fattah-1 appears to have a warhead on a “maneuverable reentry vehicle,” which enables it to make adjustments to avoid missile defenses during a short portion of its dive to its target.

This ability would be an improvement on Iran’s earlier missiles, Hinz says. But analysts were skeptical that Iran would have used the new missile for the first time on Tuesday night.

Read the full story.

Former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks to CNN.

Iran “does not want a wider war” following its unprecedented attack on Israel, former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN.

Israel has vowed to retaliate to Iran’s attack. But even after Israel responds – which it could do by striking Iranian military or economic targets – Iran’s reaction is likely to be limited, Esper told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

After its latest missile attack, which was largely intercepted by Israel and its allies, Iran has proved its military capabilities are “feckless,” he said.

“I don’t know what Iran has left to respond with. Their proxy groups have been decimated,” he added, in reference to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Oil prices climbed further on Wednesday due to concerns about an escalation of hostilities in the Middle East.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, jumped just under 2% to $74.88 a barrel, while WTI, the US benchmark, was 2% higher at $71.20. Each had finished about 2.5% higher on Tuesday.

Rising tension in the region has “poured cold water” on the bullish sentiment that had been propelling financial markets over the past week, according to Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

Iran is a big producer and member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). It exports most of its oil to China because of long-standing international sanctions, but analysts have previously said a reduction in those exports would have a massive impact on the global market.

The uncertainty has also affected global stocks and other commodities markets. Except for Hong Kong, most Asian share markets fell into the red on Wednesday, following a sell-off on Wall Street. Gold, seen as a safe-haven investment, was trading close to last week’s all-time high.

A spokesperson for Israel’s Rambam Hospital has told CNN there was an “incident” in the northern part of the country, but said they cannot comment on the amount of people admitted for treatment.

Video geolocated by CNN showed several ambulances and a military helicopter outside the hospital in Haifa.

CNN reached out to the hospital after claims by Hezbollah that they had successfully targeted military positions in northern Israel.

Rambam Hospital is the main medical facility in northern Israel and the key location for the treatment of soldiers wounded in that arena.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment, who said they cannot confirm or deny the reports.

Hezbollah claims to have hit Israeli troops in multiple locations in recent hours, including a barracks near Shomera and in both Shtula and Misgav Am. The group also said it thwarted an Israeli military incursion into the Lebanese town of Al Adessah.

CNN has not been able to verify Hezbollah’s claims.

Israeli rescue force members inspect the site where a missile fired from Iran hit a school building in central Israel, on October 1, 2024.

Two hundred missiles were fired during Iran’s Tuesday attack on Israel, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

A video posted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Wednesday shows Sardar Salami reportedly speaking by telephone with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian from the command room of the military operation.

The Israeli military said its initial estimate was that Iran had fired “approximately 180 projectiles.”

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Iran had launched “nearly 200 ballistic missiles” towards Israel.

A statement from the IRGC, reported by Iran’s English-language Press TV, said that 90% of the missiles had successfully struck their targets.

But both Israel and the US have downplayed the effectiveness of the strike. Israel said the attack “failed.”

Sullivan said it was “defeated and ineffective.”

Iran’s missile attack took place over the course of about one hour on Tuesday. The first nationwide alert was issued by the Israeli military at 12:32 a.m. local time (5:32 p.m. ET) followed by an update at 1:34 a.m. to civilians that it was safe to leave shelters.

The Israeli military has warned residents of southern Lebanon “not to travel by car south of the Litani River.”

The river runs laterally across much of the width of Lebanon’s southern territory, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border with Israel.

The warning is in effect “until further notice,” the statement added.

Police officers talk during the investigation of blasts near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2, 2024.

Danish police are investigating two blasts near Israel’s embassy in Copenhagen, Reuters reported Wednesday.

A large area was cordoned off amid heavy police presence, according to local media reports. The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

Hezbollah claimed it hit an Israeli military barracks with rockets near Shomera, on the Israel-Lebanon border, in the early hours of Wednesday.

The Israeli military told CNN they “cannot confirm at this moment” but will provide more information as soon as they have an update.

Sirens sounded in northern Israel overnight, but there’s been no further information regarding any interceptions or impact.

Earlier, the Israeli military said “a projectile was identified crossing from Lebanon, which fell in an open area in central Israel.”

The White House does not believe that Israel has made a determination on how to respond to Iran’s unprecedented missile attack, a senior US official told CNN.

Top Biden administration officials and their Israeli counterparts have been in touch constantly in recent days and weeks, as they braced for a potential Iranian strike in retaliation for attacks on top Hamas and Hezbollah targets. Nearly 12 hours after that attack materialized, US counterparts had yet to receive detailed and decisive information about what to expect.

Some background: After the US helped Israel intercept hundreds of drones and missiles fired by Iran in April, President Joe Biden urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “take the win,” CNN reported at the time.

Israel pursued a more limited response against Tehran several days after the initial barrage, though the senior US official acknowledged this week’s attack – given the types of weapons used, with little notice, headed for intelligence and military targets – was on a “much bigger scale.”

Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz participate in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on October 1 in New York City.

The two candidates to be the next US vice president sparred over which party’s ticket would be better placed to handle the expanding conflict in the Middle East during a televised debate Tuesday evening.

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz did not directly respond when asked whether he would support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran if he were the final voice in the Situation Room. But he said he supports continuing to stand with Israel against Iran-backed proxies.

Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio said it would be up to Israel, taking into consideration “what they think they need to do to keep their country safe.”

The two candidates also discussed former president Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to pull the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by Barack Obama’s administration, which kept Iran from enriching uranium above around 4%. Making nuclear weapons requires uranium enriched to about 90%.

Vance parried by claiming that Trump had made the world “more secure” and brought “peace through strength.” He did not directly address the moderator’s question on whether the former president had made a mistake withdrawing from the deal.

Some analysis: CNN’s Peter Bergen writes Vance’s claim that Trump made the world more secure is “simply nonsense.” He pointed to comments from Trump’s own top intelligence official, former director of national intelligence Dan Coats, a former Republican senator, who testified before a Congressional committee in 2019 that the Obama-negotiated nuclear deal was working.

Follow CNN’s live coverage of the VP debate.

People take shelter during an air raid siren in central Israel, on October 1, 2024.

Israel has vowed to respond to Iran’s largest ever attack on the country, fueling fears of a further escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

Iran launched dozens of missiles toward Israel on Tuesday in what Tehran said was a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.

The attack came just hours after Israel said it had launched a ground incursion against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it estimated that Iran fired 180 “projectiles” at the country. It said it intercepted many of the missiles, although some landed on the ground in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

At least one person was killed and several were injured during the attack, according to the Israeli military. The extent of the damage remains unclear.

Here’s what you need to know.

Iran’s military chief said the missile attack launched Tuesday was limited to military targets, but warned of broader strikes if Israel responds.

Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said Iran had targeted military infrastructure including the Mossad intelligence agency, the Nevatim Air Base, Hatzor Air Base, radar installations and groupings of Israeli tanks, despite having the option of launching a much broader attack.

He added a warning to Israel and its supporters.

Bagheri said the strikes against Israel were in retaliation for the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan.

Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for more than 30 years, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his underground headquarters in Beirut on Friday. Nilforoushan, a senior commander from Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed alongside him, according to Iranian state media.

Hamas political leader Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in July using an explosive device that had been covertly hidden in the guesthouse where he was staying, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. The Iranian government and Hamas say Israel carried out the assassination. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

“Since the assassination of Martyr Haniyeh, we have gone through a difficult period of restraint at the repeated request of the Americans and Europeans, who asked us to hold back to establish a ceasefire in Gaza. However, after the martyrdom of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Commander Nilforoushan, the situation became intolerable,” Bagheri said.

Broadcast journalists report as smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes that hit the city's southern suburbs early in the morning on October 2, in Beirut, Lebanon.

CNN teams in Beirut heard blasts overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

Thick plumes of smoke were visible in the sky above the capital’s southern suburbs, a CNN photo shows.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier said it is striking Hezbollah targets in several southern suburbs of Beirut and more details of the operation would follow.

It also told residents to evacuate several neighborhoods and buildings in the southern suburbs, where it suggested strikes are planned.

In one of a few messages posted to X after midnight local time, IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee warned that residents are located near “dangerous facilities belonging to Hezbollah against which the Defense Force will act with strength shortly.”

Evacuation orders from the Israeli military have been posted on social media between midnight local time and 3 a.m., likely when many people are sleeping.

An estimated 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced over the past couple of weeks, thousands of them sheltering in Beirut, including in schools on the edges of the southern suburbs of the city.

Iranian missile appears to hit less than a kilometer from Mossad headquarters in Herzliya, Israel, on October 1, 2024, in videos verified by CNN.

Of the approximately 180 missiles the Israel Defense Forces say Iran fired Tuesday night, at least three apparent targets have emerged from a CNN analysis of geolocated videos of the attack.

It’s still too early to tell whether the attack resulted in any serious damage – that will require daylight and likely satellite imagery – but by analyzing the videos from the attack we have a picture of what Iran targeted.

Footage shows a significant concentration of missiles fell either at, or near, the headquarters of Mossad, Nevatim Air Base and Tel Nof Air Base.

Those locations largely tally with what the US intelligence community, and the Israelis, believed would be targeted. Israel assessed that Iran would likely attack three Israeli air bases and an intelligence base, according to a person briefed on the matter. And a US military official told CNN that potential Iranian targets included air bases and intelligence command centers.

Videos show at least two missiles falling near the Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv’s Glilot neighborhood, a densely populated area with a number of residential and commercial buildings.

In southern Israel’s Negev desert, videos show a significant number of Iranian rockets hitting the Nevatim base. The facility, one of Israel’s largest, was previously hit by Iran during its April 13 attack (the IDF said the damage was minimal.)

In the area of the Tel Nof base, more than 15 miles south of Tel Aviv, another video showed a number of impacts.

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on October 1, 2024.

Israel operates a range of defensive systems to block attacks by everything from ballistic missiles with trajectories that take them above the atmosphere to low-flying cruise missiles and rockets.

The country’s Iron Dome system has been in the headlines often since regional hostilities ramped up last year in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the Israeli military’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza. But the Iron Dome is the bottom layer of Israel’s missile defense, according to the country’s Missile Defense Organization (IMDO).

There are at least 10 Iron Dome batteries in Israel, each equipped with a radar that detects rockets and then uses a command-and-control system that quickly calculates whether an incoming projectile poses a threat or is likely to hit an unpopulated area. If the rocket does pose a threat, the Iron Dome fires missiles from the ground to destroy it in the air.

The next rung up the missile defense ladder is David’s Sling, which protects against short- and medium-range threats, according to the IMDO.

David’s Sling, a joint project of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense System and US defense giant Raytheon, uses Stunner and SkyCeptor kinetic hit-to-kill interceptors to take out targets as far as 186 miles away, according to the Missile Threat project at the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS).

Above David’s Sling are Israel’s Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems, jointly developed with the United States.

The Arrow 2 uses fragmentation warheads to destroy incoming ballistic missiles in their terminal phase – as they dive toward their targets – in the upper atmosphere, according to the CSIS. The Arrow 2 has a range of 56 miles and a maximum altitude of 32 miles, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, which called the system an upgrade of the US Patriot missile defenses Israel once used in this role.

Meanwhile, the Arrow 3 uses hit-to-kill technology to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in space, before they reenter the atmosphere on their way to targets.

An Iranian soldier stands next to an Iranian Shahab-3 missile in Tehran, Iran on April 29, 2022.

Variants of the Iranian Shahab-3 series ballistic missile were used in Iran’s attack on Israel, weapons experts who analyzed verified social media videos from the scene told CNN.

Trevor Ball, a former senior explosive ordnance technician for the US Army, told CNN that fragments consistent with Shahab-3 variants such as Emad or Ghadr, were identifiable from images and videos of the attack. In one video, debris of a booster with visible markings of an Emad missile was visible, according to Ball. Different models such as the Kheibar Shekan or, less likely, a Fattah could also have been used, he added.

The Shahab-3 is the foundation for all Iran’s medium-range ballistic missiles using a liquid-propellant, according to Patrick Senft, a research coordinator at Armament Research Services (ARES). “It is most likely based on a North Korean missile which itself is probably based on the Soviet-designed Scud missiles. The Shahab-3 was the first Iranian ballistic missile that could reach Israel,” he added.

Remnants of an Iranian ballistic missile, including the guidance section and the warhead, were visible in images and videos collected by CNN at the site of a rocket attack at a Shalhavot Chabad School in Gedera, according to both Ball and Senft. It is difficult to identify the exact model due to the lack of reference images, Ball said.

Hypersonic claims: Weapons experts expressed skepticism over claims that Iran used its Fattah 1 hypersonic missile for the first time during its attack on Israel.

“It’s one of their newest ballistic missiles, and they have a lot to lose from using it,” Ball said. “Israel would get an idea of its capabilities just from being used. There’s also the chance it could fail to function, giving Israel an even greater idea of its capabilities. They get free propaganda and risk nothing by saying it was used.”

In this screengrab taken from a video, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with his political-security Cabinet on October 1, 2024.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis that Iran “made a big mistake” and “will pay” for launching a missile attack on the country Tuesday.

“Tonight, Iran again attacked Israel with hundreds of missiles. This attack failed. It was thwarted thanks to Israel’s air defense system, which is the most advanced in the world,” Netanyahu said from a meeting with his political security cabinet, in a video released by the Israeli government’s press office on Tuesday. “I congratulate the IDF for its impressive achievement.”

“It was also thwarted thanks to the vigilance and responsibility shown by you – the citizens of Israel. I also thank the United States for its support in our defense effort,” Netanyahu added.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it. The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies,” he said.

Netanyahu also addressed the attack in Tel Aviv’s neighborhood of Jaffa, sending condolences to the families of those killed. “As with the missile attack, there is also a deliberate and murderous hand behind this attack – it comes from Tehran,” he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement on the situation in the Middle East in London, on October 1, 2024.

Top officials from France, Britain, Germany and the European Union have all condemned Iran’s missile attacks on Israel, warning of potentially disastrous consequences for the wider region.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced what he called an “attempt by the Iranian regime to harm innocent Israelis” and “escalate this dangerous situation” in the Middle East.

The British leader was on a phone call to his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, when the Iranian attack began, according to a readout from Starmer’s office.

Starmer said he had used calls with Netanyahu and his Lebanese, French and Palestinian counterparts to push for a “political route forward.”

Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, also condemned Iran’s attack “in the strongest possible terms.”

“We have urgently warned Iran against this dangerous escalation. Iran must stop the attack immediately. It is leading the region further into the abyss,” Baerbock said on X.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier also weighed in on what he described as “an extremely serious situation in the Middle East.”

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, warned a “dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation” is underway that risks “spiraling out of control.”

The bloc is “fully committed to contribute to avert a regional war,” Borrell said, stressing that “an immediate ceasefire across the region is needed.”

Israelis take cover as projectiles launched from Iran are being intercepted in the skies over in Rosh HaAyin, Israel, on October 1, 2024.

Tuesday’s attack by Iran on Israel could shift the scales in the already extremely tense situation in the Middle East as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tehran “will pay.”

Up until now, Iran has mostly used its proxies in the region — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen — to strike against Israel.

When it attacked Israel directly in April, after accusing it of bombing its diplomatic complex in Syria, the assault appeared designed for effect rather than impact.

Tuesday’s missile strikes seemed different.

The Pentagon said the attack on Tuesday was twice as large as Iran’s last barrage against Israel in April. Tehran said the barrage was a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. It came just hours after Israel announced it launched a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon — something that would have been seen by Iran as a major escalation.

While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said most of the missiles were intercepted, some have landed on Israeli soil and appear to have caused damage.

Unlike in the spring, when Israel had days to prepare for the attacks, it received little warning on Tuesday, learning about the imminent threat just hours before Tehran launched the barrage.

Whatever Israel decides to do in response could shape the next stage of the conflict. It opted for a limited response back in April following pleas by the US and other allies to exercise restraint. But the words used by Israeli officials on Tuesday suggests the reaction might be more forceful this time.

The worry among the international community is that Israel might decide to target some of Iran’s nuclear facilities. That is something Israel didn’t do in April — possibly because it worried about how Hezbollah would react to such a forceful move. Instead, it chose to strike military defenses near these facilities. With Hezbollah greatly weakened after the recent spate of Israeli attacks targeting its top officials, that risk could now play much smaller part in Israel’s calculation.

CNN’s Nic Robertson contributed to this post.