‘Running home’Iran’s proxies and allies also carried out coordinated attacks on Israeli positions.AFP correspondents heard blasts in the skies above Jerusalem early Sunday, and overnight people sought cover in the city while some residents stockpiled water.On Sunday morning, people were beginning to tentatively return to the streets of Jerusalem.Ayala Salant, 48, told AFP “the situation is really frightening”.”We are afraid of what is happening and all of the bombing and aircraft that are coming.”Israel, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon all said they had reopened their airspace after suspending air traffic during the attack.The Iranian army declared that its attack was “completed successfully,” which it said was in “self-defence” after the Damascus strike which killed seven of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards including two generals earlier this month.”Operation Honest Promise… achieved all its objectives”, said Mohammad Bagheri, the Iranian armed forces’ chief of staff.Bagheri said the attack targeted an intelligence centre and the air base from which Tehran says the Israeli F-35 jets took off to strike the Damascus consulate.”Both these centres were significantly destroyed,” he said, though Israel maintains that the attack only resulted in minor damage.Hundreds of Iranians gathered in Tehran’s Palestine Square waving Iranian and Palestinian flags in a show of support for the military action.’Ironclad’ US support for IsraelIran’s allies in the region joined the attack, with Yemen’s Tehran-backed Huthi rebels also launching drones at Israel, according to security agency Ambrey.Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement announced it had fired rockets at Israeli positions in the annexed Golan Heights around the same time, as well as a second barrage hours later.An Israeli strike destroyed a building in Lebanon’s east on Sunday, the state-run National News Agency reported. A source within Hezbollah told AFP that there were no casualties.As the attack was occurring, US President Joe Biden reiterated Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel.Biden said he told Netanyahu during a phone call that Israel’s defence against the attack sent “a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel”.The Iranian mission to the United Nations warned Washington to keep out of Iran’s conflict with Israel.The mission added on X that it hoped Iran’s attack would lead to no further escalation and “the matter can be deemed concluded”.NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah said the alliance condemned “Iran’s overnight escalation”, stressing, “It is vital that the conflict in the Middle East does not spiral out of control.”British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned Iran’s “reckless” action and pledged his government would “continue to stand up for Israel’s security”.Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia urged parties to exercise “restraint and spare the region and its peoples from the dangers of war”.The US Security Council was to meet at around 2000 GMT Sunday to discuss the latest crisis at Israel’s request.



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