Israeli defence forces said yesterday that Iran had launched drones toward Tel Aviv; an attack that the U.S. and Israel had warned was possible amid escalating tensions between the two countries.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that Israel was tracking the threat in its airspace, noting that drones fired from Iran would take several hours to reach Israel.
The White House confirmed the attack, issuing a statement from National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson that said, “Iran has begun an airborne attack against Israel”.
“President Biden is being regularly updated on the situation by his national security team and will meet with them this afternoon at the White House”, the statement from Watson read, adding: “This attack is likely to unfold over a number of hours”.
President Biden decided to cut his weekend visit to Delaware short, returning to the White House yesterday to meet with his national security team amid growing concerns about an imminent attack on Israel by Iran.
The Iran attack followed Israel’s recent attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria which killed seven Iranian military advisers.
On Friday, Biden said he expected Iran to attack “sooner than later”, issuing a one-word warning to officials in Tehran: “Don’t”.
Biden says he expects Iran to attack Israel ‘sooner than later’
Speaking to reporters after delivering remarks virtually to the National Action Network Convention, President Biden said: “We are devoted to the defence of Israel”, the president added. “We will support Israel and help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed”.
The U.S. has taken steps in recent days to protect Americans in Israel and prepare U.S. troops and warships in the region to defend Israel in the event of a direct attack.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said Saturday that US forces helped take down “nearly all” the drones and missiles fired by Iran at Israel, adding that he had reaffirmed his “ironclad” support to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden added in a statement that he would convene his fellow leaders of the G7 group of wealthy nations on Sunday to coordinate a “united diplomatic response” to Iran’s “brazen” attack.
“Iran — and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq — launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel. I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms”, Biden said.
He said he had ordered US military aircraft and ballistic missile defence destroyers to the Middle East in recent days as the likely Iranian threat to the key US ally became clear.
“Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles”, Biden said.
Biden added that he had spoken to Netanyahu to “reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment” to Israel’s security.
“I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks — sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel”, he said.
No US forces or facilities had come under attack from Iran, he said.
