JERUSALEM – Iran launched a swarm of explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel late on April 13 in its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, risking a major escalation as the United States pledged “ironclad” backing for Israel.

Sirens wailed and Reuters journalists in Israel said they heard distant heavy thuds and bangs from what local media called aerial interceptions of explosive drones. The ambulance service said a 10-year-old boy was critically injured.

Israel’s military said more than 100 drones were launched from Iran, with security sources in Iraq and Jordan reporting dozens seen flying overhead and American officials saying the US military had shot some down.

Israel’s Channel 12 TV cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying there would be a “significant response” to the attack.

Israel’s military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said Iran launched dozens of ground-to-ground missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted outside Israeli borders. They included more than 10 cruise missiles, he added.

The Iranian salvo amounted to more than 200 drones and missiles so far, he noted, and had caused light damage to one Israeli military facility. He said the engagement had not ended, and Israeli forces were still intercepting incoming threats.

Iran has vowed retaliation for what it called an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers, including two senior commanders. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack.

“Should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” the Iranian mission to the United Nations said, warning the US to “stay away”. However, it also said Iran now “deemed the matter concluded”.

Israel said it requested that the United Nations Security Council hold an emergency meeting to condemn the attack and designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation.

“The Iranian attack is a serious threat to global peace and security and I expect the Council to use every means to take concrete action against Iran,” Mr Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, wrote in a post on X.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the council would meet at about 4pm Eastern time on April 14 (4am Singapore time on April 15).

US President Joe Biden, who on April 12 had warned Iran against an attack, cut short a visit to his home state of Delaware to meet national security advisers in the White House Situation Room, an official said. He pledged to stand with Israel.

“Our commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” he said on X after the meeting.

British maritime security company Ambrey said in a statement that drones were also reportedly launched against Israel by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group.

Iran’s main ally in the region, the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah that has been exchanging fire with Israel since the Gaza war began on Oct 7, said early on April 14 that it had fired rockets at an Israeli base.

Those clashes now threaten to morph into a direct open conflict pitting Iran and its regional allies against Israel and its main supporter, the US, with regional power Egypt urging “utmost restraint”.

While Israel and Iran have been bitter foes for decades, their long feud has mostly unfolded via proxies or by targeting each other’s forces operating in third countries.

US and British warplanes were involved in shooting down some Israel-bound drones over the Iraq-Syria border area, Channel 12 reported. Three US officials said the US military had shot down drone aircraft without saying how many.

Dangerous escalation

A retired Israeli general, Amos Yadlin, told the country’s Channel 12 news that the Iranian drones were equipped with 20kg of explosives each.

“This is a severe and dangerous escalation. Our defensive and offensive capabilities are at the highest level of readiness ahead of this large-scale attack from Iran,” said Rear-Admiral Hagari.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose official jet took off shortly after the attack began, convened the war Cabinet at a military headquarters in Tel Aviv, his office said.

He expressed his gratitude to the US and its allies, saying: “We appreciate the US standing alongside Israel, as well as the support of Britain, France and many other countries. We have determined a clear principle: Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We will defend ourselves against any threat and will do so level-headedly and with determination.”

In the wee hours of April 14, Israel’s military, revising an earlier alert, said that it was not advising any residents of the country to prepare to take shelter, in what appeared to signal the end of the threat seen from incoming Iranian missiles and drones.

Airspace closed

Jordan neighbours Syria and Iraq – both countries where Iranian proxy forces operate – and is also next door to Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

It has watched Israel’s war against the Palestinian group Hamas, another Iranian ally, with rising alarm for fear of getting caught in a crossfire.

On the night of April 13, it closed its airspace to all incoming, departing and transiting aircraft in what officials told Reuters were precautionary measures in the event of an Iranian strike across its border.

Two regional security sources said Jordan’s air defences were ready to intercept and shoot down any Iranian drones or aircraft that violate its airspace.

They said the army was also in a state of high alert and radar systems were monitoring any drone activity coming from the direction of Iraq and Syria.

Residents in several cities in the northern part of the country near Syria and central and southern areas heard heavy aerial activity. A security source said the country’s air force was intensifying reconnaissance flights.

Syria, an ally of Iran, said it was putting its ground-to-air defence systems around the capital and major bases on high alert, according to army sources.

Iraq also announced that it was shutting down its airspace and suspending all air traffic on April 13, Iraq’s transport ministry told the country’s state-owned news agency.

Condemnation of Iran’s actions

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Iran’s attack, saying he was “deeply alarmed about the very real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation”.

The European Union, its members and several countries in South and Latin American also condemned the attack.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused Iran of being reckless.

“I condemn in the strongest terms the Iranian regime’s reckless attack against Israel. These strikes risk inflaming tensions and destabilising the region. Iran has once again demonstrated that it is intent on sowing chaos in its own backyard,” he said.

“The UK will continue to stand up for Israel’s security and that of all our regional partners, including Jordan and Iraq. Alongside our allies, we are urgently working to stabilise the situation and prevent further escalation. No one wants to see more bloodshed.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell led the continent’s criticism of Iran’s actions, saying: “The EU strongly condemns the unacceptable Iranian attack against Israel. This is an unprecedented escalation and a grave threat to regional security.”

Saudi Arabia expressed its deep concern regarding the military escalations in the region and the seriousness of their repercussions, a statement from its foreign ministry said.

It called on all parties to exercise the “utmost levels” of restraint and spare the region and its people the dangers of wars.

Piracy accusations

The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, now in its seventh month, has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq.

Earlier on April 13, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that a Revolutionary Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries.

MSC, which operates the Aries, confirmed that Iran had seized the ship and said it was working “with the relevant authorities” for its safe return and the wellbeing of its 25 crew.

MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, Zodiac said in a statement, adding that MSC is responsible for all the vessel’s activities. Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has accused Iran of piracy. REUTERS