By Niamh Harris – The People’s Voice
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps claim they have conducted a successful large-scale missile and drone attack against Israel.
In a statement published by IRNA news agency, they said that they managed to hit and destroy “important military targets”.
The Iranian government also claimed success saying that it had struck most of the military targets it had intended and that as far as it was concerned the military operation was now over.
US President Biden said that American forces had played a part in taking down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also confirmed the UK sent “additional planes” to the region as part of operations already under way in Iraq and Syria.. He said that the RAF shot down “a number” of Iranian attack drones.
The Iranian strikes were a response to what Tehran called “numerous crimes” committed by West Jerusalem, including the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus on April 1. The attack killed seven officers of the IRGC’s Quds Force, including two generals.
RT reports: The Islamic Republic’s attack involved more than 100 drones, Israeli and Western media reported. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it tracked incoming unmanned aerial vehicles and intercepted them mid-air, with help from allied forces.
Iranian media published several short clips on social media purportedly showing the moments the missiles hit their targets in Israel. One was said to be from a settlement in the Negev desert in the southern part of the country.
The videos show what appear to be several missiles striking targets in a settlement. RT could not independently verify the clips.
The IDF has confirmed only “minor” damage to a single military base resulting from the Iranian strike. The only person injured in the attack so far is a 10-year-old child in southern Israel.
In a statement, the IRGC warned the US that any support it provides to Israel that harms Iran’s interests would be met with a “decisive response.” Tehran considers Washington “responsible for the evil actions” of West Jerusalem, the statement added. Iran also warned its neighbors against assisting the US or Israel in potentially attacking the Islamic Republic.
In the wake of the Iranian strikes, Israeli media reported that the government is planning a massive retaliation. TV Channel 12 cited a senior Israeli official as saying that an “unprecedented response” to the attack is in the works. Israel’s culture and sports minister, Miki Zohar, also stated that West Jerusalem “received broad international legitimacy tonight to strike Iran with unprecedented force.”