Tel Aviv on alert as explosions, smoke, sirens shake city after Iran's strikes
Tel Aviv witnessed three waves of missile attacks in a counter-offensive against Israel by Iran amid escalating tensions between the countries.
Tel Aviv has been on alert after Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles against Israel late on Friday amid escalating conflict between the two countries, reported Associated Press.
Israeli TV stations showed plumes of smoke rising and the sound of explosions in Tel Aviv after the missile strike, with more rockets incoming as per the military.
Eli Bin, the spokesman for the Magen David Adom rescue service, said that seven people were lightly injured in central Israel. Images on Channel 12 showed what appeared to be a building hit by a missile.
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has executed its decisive and precise response against tens of targets, military centres and airbases of the usurping Zionist regime in the occupied territories," the Revolutionary Guard said in a statement carried by state media.
Air raid sirens were sounded across Israel and authorities have instructed citizens to remain indoors and take precautions. The Israeli authorities also stated that they were attempting to intercept the incoming air strikes.
“At least two Israeli fighter jets were shot down in Iranian skies," Tehran's officials told Reuters.
The attack came as a retaliation against Israeli's strikes earlier in the day, blasting Iran's huge underground nuclear site at Natanz and wiping out its top military commanders.
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Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech that Israel's deadly attacks on his country would “bring it to ruin.”
"The armed forces of the Islamic republic will inflict heavy blows upon this malevolent enemy," Khamenei said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that their attack "will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," in order to deal with Iran's nuclear programme which posed a danger to the country.
He added, during a TV address, “Generations from now, history will record our generation stood its ground, acted in time and secured our common future.”