The Latest: Iran launches large

Release time：2024-05-21 14:08:53 Source：Cosmic Compass news portal

TEHRAN/JERUSALEM, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments related to Iran's massive drone and missile attack against Israel:

A Hezbollah official was killed and three civilians were injured on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a village in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the Israeli raid targeted the main market in the southeast village of Khiam, killing a local Hezbollah official named Jihad Ali Abu Mahdi and wounding three civilians.

The sources noted that another raid destroyed a two-story house between the villages of Sareen and Nabi Chit in the vicinity of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.

The sources added that Israel carried out air strikes on four towns and villages in southern and eastern Lebanon and fired 30 shells on nine towns and villages in the eastern, central, and western sectors of the border region in southern Lebanon.

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Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations said the country's military action against Israel was based on Article 51 of the UN Charter regarding the legitimate right to self-defense and in response to the deadly Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria, the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) confirmed that it has launched dozens of missiles and drones against Israel, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Saturday night.

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A combined attack of dozens of ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones from Iran triggered air raid alerts across Israel early Sunday, the Israeli army said, as residents reported multiple bombings were heard.

The projectiles triggered sirens in Jerusalem, the Negev Desert and the Dead Sea in the south, the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights in the north as well as the occupied West Bank.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed during a press briefing that Israel was under attack by ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles from Iran, noting that aerial defense systems have intercepted some of the missiles.

Israel's Maged David Adom rescue service said in a statement that a 10-year-old boy was seriously injured in a Beduin village in the Negev. A projectile or parts of a projectile fell near Umm Al Fahm, an Arab city in northern Israel, causing no injuries.

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Explosions were heard in several cities in Syria early on Sunday, as tensions escalated between Iran and Israel, according to reports by a war monitor.

Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital of Damascus, as well as Homs, Hama, Daraa, and coastal regions, as Syrian air defenses attempted to intercept Israeli missiles that were allegedly targeting Iranian missiles en route to hit targets in Israel, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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Countries in the Middle East on Sunday announced the reopening of their airspace following the Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel.

A statement by the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) said that "the Iraqi airspace has been reopened to all aircraft arriving at, departing from, and crossing the country after the end of all risks that affect the security and safety of civil aviation in Iraq."

Earlier, the ICAA closed the Iraqi airspace after dozens of Iranian missiles and drones traversed Iraqi airspace en route to Israel late Saturday.

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Lebanon's General Directorate of Civil Aviation announced on Sunday that the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut reopened at 7 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) after closure due to regional tensions over the past hours.

Hezbollah announced early Sunday that its fighters targeted the Israeli Kela barracks with dozens of Katyusha rockets in the occupied Syrian Golan.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it launched the attack in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on safe villages and towns in southern Lebanon.

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Iran's mission to the United Nations (UN) said Saturday that the attack on Israel "can be deemed concluded."

"Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran's military action was in response to the Zionist regime's aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded," the mission said on social media X.

The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Sunday in response to a request from Israel, UN said.

Israel has called on the council to condemn Iran's attack against Israel and to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, the sources noted.

The meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. local time (2000 GMT), as announced by the UN Department of Global Communications late Saturday night. ■

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