The elite Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which serves as the regime's ideological army, announced the launch of missiles at the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Beersheba, as well as at an air base in Jordan, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
"The twenty-eighth wave of Operation “Honest Pledge 4+“ "started with the launch of new-generation missiles from the IRGC Aerospace Force at Beersheba, Tel Aviv and the Al-Azraq air base," the guards said, quoted by state television.
Agence France-Presse journalists reported explosions in Tel Aviv in the early afternoon after the Israeli army declared an air alert due to the missile salvo fired by Iran.
"The Israeli army has detected the launch of missiles from Iran towards the country's territory," the military said, specifying that air defense systems were activated.
Earlier, Bahrain accused Iran of attacking a seawater desalination plant, which raised concerns about a possible expansion of military action against civilian infrastructure, the Associated Press notes.
The United Arab Emirates reported that that since the beginning of the day, Tehran has launched 17 ballistic missiles and about 120 drones. According to the UAE Ministry of Defense, 16 missiles were shot down and 17 fell into the sea; most of the drones were also neutralized, but four reached the country's territory. The agency indicated readiness for "firm action" against the threats, without specifying which targets were attacked and where they were located.
On the same day, the Iranian president threatened that attacks on American sites in the region would be intensified if the Israeli and American strikes continued. With these words, Masoud Pezeshkian seemed to move away from the more conciliatory tone he demonstrated towards his neighbors in his televised address yesterday, the Associated Press notes.
In Tehran today, the sky was darkened by smoke from a burning oil depot that was hit last night in an Israeli strike.