Iran launches barrage of strikes toward Israel

In the days after a deadly Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy complex in Syria earlier this month, the only questions were how and when — not if — Iran would respond. Tehran delivered its answer on Saturday night with an unprecedented aerial attack launched directly from Iranian soil, escalating already boiling regional tensions to new levels.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) announced Saturday that they had fired dozens of drones and missiles toward Israel; an Israeli official put the number of drones at more than 100. As of early Sunday, it appeared that many of the projectiles were intercepted by the Israeli and US militaries.

The launch marked the first-ever attack launched at Israel from Iranian territory. The two countries are enemy states, but neither had ever launched a direct and overt attack on the other’s soil — though Israel’s April 1 strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus took place on what is technically considered to be sovereign Iranian territory per diplomatic convention.

For 12 days, the regime vowed revenge, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appearing before a crowd wielding a rifle as he vowed to retaliate. US officials expected Iran’s response to be calibrated to avoid all-out war, but Tehran is also seeking to reassert itself as a regional force — a tightrope that it has sought to walk since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

While the damage from Saturday night’s strikes is yet to be determined, the scale of the launch and its transnational route have already brought the region to the brink, and any misstep could have cataclysmic consequences.

Israel has already vowed to respond. “We have determined a clear principle: Whoever harms us, we will harm them,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night as the drones made their way toward his country.

Several Latin American countries have expressed concern over Iran’s attack on Israel and the overall situation in the Middle East.

Chile: “We express our concern about the serious escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the Iranian attacks against Israel. Chile condemns the use of force and defends international humanitarian law,” Chile’s Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren wrote on X.

Mexico: The country’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs expressed “deep concern” over the attack and the impact “this could have on thousands” of lives. 

Argentina: President Javier Milei has cut short his trip to Denmark and will fly back to Argentina on Sunday to “form a crisis committee in light of the latest events in Israel,” the president's spokesperson Manuel Adorni wrote on X. Adorni said Milei’s meeting is to “take charge of the situation and coordinate actions with the presidents of the Western world.”

Ecuador: The country's foreign ministry said in a statement it is touch with its diplomatic staff in the region. Ecuador said Israel had provided safety instruction to its diplomatic mission. “We will continue to monitor the situation,” it added.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said the country has responded to what it called “the aggressive act of the Zionist regime against the Iranian embassy in Damascus.”

 “The Islamic Republic of Iran's recourse to defensive measures in exercising the right to self-defense shows Iran's responsible approach to regional and international peace and security at a time when the illegal and genocidal actions by the Zionist apartheid regime against the Palestinian nation and the regime's repeated military aggression…”

The ministry’s statement concluded: “If necessary, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to take more defensive measures to protect its legitimate interests against any aggressive military actions and illegal use of force.”

Israel did not confirm it carried out the attack in Damascus on April 1, but denied Iran’s claim that the building hit was a consulate, saying it was a “military building of Quds forces.” 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned Iran’s attack on Israel and said it puts an entire region at risk of plunging “into chaos.”

“We condemn the ongoing attack in the strongest possible terms, risking to plunge an entire region into chaos,” Baerbock wrote on X.

“Iran and its proxies must stop this immediately. In these hours, we stand firmly by Israel.”

US President Joe Biden’s meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room is over for now, per a White House official. The group could reconvene later, the official said.

A photo from inside the meeting with National Security Council leaders was posted on X, formerly Twitter.

A 7-year-old girl was severely injured by shrapnel from an interceptor missile during Iran’s attack on Israel, according to Israel’s emergency service.

The girl was injured in the Negev region of southern Israel by shrapnel from an interceptor missile that was launched to intercept an Iranian projectile, a spokesperson for Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service told CNN affiliate and Israeli public broadcaster Channel 11.

The girl suffered a head injury and was unconscious, the MDA said in a later statement. She was taken to hospital for further treatment. An earlier MDA statement gave the girl's age as 10-years-old but was subsequently updated.

The MDA had previously said that there had been no reports of injuries suffered directly through Iranian strikes on Israel.

The Israel emergency service edited their statement to reflect the gender of the child was a girl not a boy.

The US is continuing “to shoot down Iranian-launched drones targeting Israel,” a US defense official said Sunday.

CNN teams on the ground report the sound of explosions above Tel Aviv, which appear to have been interceptions by Israeli air defenses.

There are also reports of explosions in the areas of Beersheba, the Dead Sea and Hebron in the West Bank, as well as the Golan Heights on the border with Syria.

Iron Dome intercepts took place in several additional locations, according to live webcams viewed by CNN.  

The intercepts were observed above Hanaton, which is in northern Israel east of Haifa; near Nazareth; near Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut; and Safed, near the Golan Heights.

Sirens are sounding in many parts of Israel as air defenses are activated.

There are very few countries as prepared as Israel for Iran's air attack, given its arsenal and experience with linked militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The best-known of Israel's air defense capabilities is the Iron Dome — a short-range system that has intercepted thousands of rockets and drones fired by both groups in the past few years. According to Israeli manufacturer Rafael Defense Systems, it boasts a 90% success rate. Earlier this week, Israel also debuted the maritime version of the Iron Dome, an air defense system known as "C-Dome," to intercept a Houthi drone.

But the Iron Dome does have limitations: Some rockets have punched through — several fired by Hezbollah against Israel did on Friday — and the defense system is best suited for rockets or missiles fired from short distances. Its radar has a range of 4 to 70 kilometers (about 2.5 to 43 miles).

To deal with medium- to long-range missiles or drones — the type it will likely face in Iran's attack on Saturday — Israel installed the David's Sling system in 2017. With a range of up to 300 kilometers (about 186 miles), its main goal is to protect against and intercept large-caliber rockets, drones or short-range ballistic missiles.

"The David's Sling system is capable of intercepting missiles fired towards Israel by enemy countries such as Iran and Syria," the IDF said in a statement when the system was introduced.

In addition to these short and medium-range capabilities, Israel also has the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile systems, which are designed to target and strike long-range ballistic missiles at a range of up to 2,400 kilometers (1,491 miles). The Arrow 3 system has also been used to shoot down ballistic missiles in space.

In addition to these domestically developed air defense systems, Israel also operates US-made Patriot air defense systems, which have a reported range of up to 160 kilometers (about 99 miles) and can intercept most types of missiles. These have proven quite effective against Russian hypersonic missiles in Ukraine.

Israel can also deploy its extensive air force. Its fleet includes US-made F-15, F-16 and highly advanced fifth-generation F-35 jets. All of these can be equipped with air-to-air missiles and are capable of shooting down incoming drones or missiles.