Booms and sirens in Israel after Iran launches over 200 missiles and drones in unprecedented attack

Booms and air raid sirens sounded across Israel early Sunday after Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a regionwide war. (Reuters)

The Israeli military's spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Iran fired scores of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles — with the vast majority intercepted outside Israel’s borders. He said warplanes intercepted over 10 cruise missiles alone, also outside Israeli airspace. (Reuters)

The attack marked 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. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet is meeting in Tel Aviv, his office said Sunday, after Iran launched a drone attack on Israel. Netanyahu is convening the War Management Cabinet at this time, in Kirya in Tel Aviv," the prime minister's office said. (AFP)

In its support for Israel, US President Joe Biden condemned Iran's attack on Israeli soil, adding that he will convene G7 leaders on Monday to coordinate a united diplomatic response. Iran and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq launched more than 200 projectiles at Israel on Saturday night, including dozens of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. (AFP)

Iran's attack came in retaliation for an April 1 strike that levelled the five-storey consular annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals. Tehran has since vowed to avenge the strike which was widely blamed on Israel. (AFP)

Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Iran early Sunday in a show of support for the unprecedented drone and missile attack under way against arch foe Israel. Demonstrators in Tehran's Palestine Square shortly after the Revolutionary Guards announced the launch of Operation Honest Promise. (AFP)

Supporters of the retaliatory attack also demonstrated in Iran's third largest city Isfahan where Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the generals killed in the Damascus strike, is buried. Tehran had earlier appealed to Washington to keep out of its conflict with Israel but Iranian hopes were dashed after a Pentagon official confirmed that US forces were shooting down Israel-bound drones. (AFP)