File image.
Iran launched on June 19 morning one of its most devastating missile attacks against Israel since the start of the ongoing conflict.
Sirens sounded across southern and central Israel amid the attack, with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announcing later that at least 30 ballistic missiles were launched from the Islamic Republic. Israeli air defenses engaged the incoming missiles, but multiple impacts were reported in the city of Beersheba in southern Israel, and the areas of Holon and Ramat Gan in the Tel Aviv District in the center of the country.
In Beersheba, a missile directly hit the Soroka Hospital, according to Hebrew media. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was damaged by another missile.
At least 40 people were wounded in the attack, including three seriously, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service.
Later, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it targeted intelligence and command centers of the IDF, including one located right next to Soroka Hospital, in the 14th wave of Operation Ture Promise 3, which was launched in retaliation to the Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic.
Following the devastating attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will respond forcefully against Iran.
“Iran’s terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the center of the country,” Netanyahu writes on the X social network. “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will “be held accountable” for what he called “war crimes.”
“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits deep within a fortified bunker and deliberately launches attacks toward hospitals and residential buildings in Israel,” Katz said. “These are war crimes of the worst kind, and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes.”
Katz added that he and Netanyahu had “instructed the IDF to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and government-related targets in Tehran, in order to eliminate threats to the State of Israel and destabilize the ayatollah regime.”
According to the IDF, Iran has launched more than 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 suicide drones since the start of the Israeli attack on its nuclear program, codenamed Operation Risin Lion on June 13. The attacks claimed the lives of more than 24 people and left more than 500 others wounded in Israel.
The last Iranian attack revealed serious degradation in the effectiveness of Israel’s multi-layered air defense network. The damage caused by just 30 missiles appear to have exceeded that caused by earlier attacks with over 100 missiles. This explains why Israel appears to be in a hurry to get the U.S. involved in the attack on Iran.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
