ISRAEL on Sunday hailed its air defences in the face of an unprecedented attack by Iran, saying the systems thwarted 99 per cent of the more than 300 drones and missiles launched toward its territory. Regional tensions were high amid fears of an Israeli counter-strike that could fuel further escalation. US President Joe Biden said he would convene a meeting Sunday of the Group of Seven advanced democracies “to co-ordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.” The US made clear it would not participate in any offensive action against Iran. “We don’t seek a war with Iran. We’re not looking for escalation here,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ‘NBC’. Iran launched the attack in response to a strike widely blamed on Israel that hit an Iranian consular building in Syria earlier this month and killed two Iranian Generals.

 

Israel said Iran launched 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles. By Sunday morning, Iran said the attack was over, and Israel reopened its airspace. “We will build a regional coalition and collect the price from Iran, in the way and at the time that suits us,” said a key member of Israel’s War Cabinet, Benny Gantz. The two foes have for years been engaged in a shadow war marked by attacks such as the Damascus strike. But Sunday’s assault, which set off air-raid sirens across Israel, was the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

 

Israel has over the years established — often with the help of the United States — a multi-layered air-defence network that includes systems capable of intercepting a variety of threats, including long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range rockets. That system, along with collaboration with the US and others, helped thwart what could have been a far more devastating assault at a time when Israel is already bogged down in its war against Hamas in Gaza and engaged in low-level fighting on its northern border with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.