For Israel, the unprecedented attack by Iran involving hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles late Saturday seemed like an opportunity to display the capabilities of its defense systems. Israel on Sunday praised the success of its defences against the drone and missile salvo by Iran as tensions ran high over a possible counter strike.
The drone and missile rain by Iran was the first time in history that the country has directly attacked Israel, a country it has not been friends with since time immemorial. Iran and Israel's hostility dates back to the Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
While Israel woke up to booms and air raid sirens as Iran's extensive missile assault approached, the former's famed 'Iron Dome' air defense system detected and 'Arrow' system were among the ones that destroyed most of the Iranian projectiles in the Israeli airspace.
Flaunting its sophisticated defense mechanism, Israel Defense Forces shared on microblogging platform X what "99% interception rate looks like."
"This is what a 99% interception rate looks like. Operational footage from the Aerial Defense System protecting the Israeli airspace," IDF said in its post, showing its planes intercepting hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles.
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An Israeli military spokesman had said on Sunday that the launches numbered more than 300, but 99 per cent of them were intercepted. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles. Several ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing minor damage to an air base.
US President Joe Biden said US forces helped Israel down “nearly all” the drones and missiles and pledged to convene allies to develop a unified response.
“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement. “Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.”
Leaders of the G7 — the informal gathering of industrialised countries that includes the United States, United Kingdom and France — issued a statement on Sunday “unequivocally condemning in the strongest terms Iran's direct and unprecedented attack against Israel”.
The statement came after the leaders met in a video conference hosted by the Italian presidency.
Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, in a press conference said his country notified the United States before launching the strike against Israel.
“Early Sunday in a message to the White House we announced that our operation would be limited and minimalistic and aimed at legitimate defence and punishing the Israeli regime," Amirabdollahian said.
