Israel says Iran's rulers made 'big mistake' in large-scale ballistic missile attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran's Islamist rulers had made a "big mistake" by staging a large-scale missile attack on his nation Tuesday and warned they "will pay for it."

Israeli and U.S. officials said Iran fired around 200 ballistic missiles at wide swaths of Israel after nightfall on Tuesday. Most were intercepted by Israeli forces aided by warships from the U.S., Israel's main ally. The attack was a major escalation of the yearlong conflict between Israel and the Islamic republic's regional proxies.

Videos posted online showed some of the Iranian missiles striking the ground in Israel, while others landed in neighboring Jordan. There were no immediate reports of Israeli casualties from the attack.

Netanyahu reacted to the Iranian assault in a video statement that he made late Tuesday while addressing his Cabinet, saying the Islamic republic's leaders in Tehran apparently have not understood Israel's determination to retaliate against its enemies. He added: "They will understand."

Hours earlier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a message on the X platform, saying Iran had given a "decisive response to the aggression of the Zionist regime" — a pejorative for Israel.

"This action was in defense of the interests and citizens of Iran. Let Netanyahu know that Iran is not a belligerent, but it stands firmly against any threat. … Do not enter into a conflict with Iran," Pezeshkian wrote.

U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in a Tuesday briefing at the White House, said: "At my direction, the United States military actively supported the defense of Israel. We're still assessing the impact, but based on what we know now, the attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective."

Biden said the thwarting of what he called Iran's "brazen" and expected attack was a testament to Israeli and U.S. military capabilities and intensive planning.

"Make no mistake, the U.S. is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel," he added.

In a briefing with reporters, U.S. Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said two U.S. destroyers, USS Cole and USS Bulkeley, fired about a dozen interceptors against incoming Iranian ballistic missiles during the attack.

"We certainly hope that there is not another attack," Ryder said. "But obviously Iran maintains a capability, and they just demonstrated that they are willing to use it to directly attack Israel. So we're going to continue to consult closely with Israel on next steps."

Speaking at the United Nations, Israeli ambassador to the world body Danny Danon said Israel's response to the Iranian attack would be "painful." He said the Iranian people would understand that the Israeli response would not be against them, but rather against their radical Islamist rulers.

The Israeli military said 10 million civilians were under threat from the Iranian missiles, which triggered sirens across northern, central and southern Israel. About an hour after the missile strike began, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said it had ended, and civilians could leave their shelters.

Iranian state news agency IRNA said Iran's top military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), attacked Israeli "security and intelligence" targets in retaliation for the July assassination of Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Israel's recent killings of senior commanders of Lebanese Hezbollah and the IRGC itself.

Israel assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on the U.S.-designated terror group's southern Beirut command center last Friday. IRGC Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan also was killed in that attack. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied killing Haniyeh.

IRNA said Tuesday's missile strike on Israel, the second such attack from Iranian territory after an aerial assault in April, was approved by Iran's Supreme National Security Council, which serves under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Hezbollah rockets and Israeli incursion

Earlier Tuesday, Hezbollah fired rockets at northern and central Israel, a day after Israel began what it described as a “limited, localized and targeted” ground incursion into southern Lebanon to destroy terrorist infrastructure near its northern border.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, said Tuesday that any Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon is “in violation of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

"We urge all actors to step back from such escalatory acts, which will only lead to more violence and more bloodshed,” UNIFIL said.

The U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement Tuesday that the violence is “spiraling to dangerous heights.”

“This cycle of violence will not end well — for anyone. A sliver of opportunity remains for diplomacy to succeed. The question now is whether it will be seized or squandered,” she said.

Almost a year of attacks across the Israeli-Lebanese border have forced tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in a Tuesday meeting with U.N. and Lebanese officials, said his country is facing “one of the most critical moments in its history.”

A call for aid

In another development, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs appealed for $426 million in funding to help those affected by what it called “the largest escalation of conflict” since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War.

“The ongoing violence and rapidly deteriorating security situation is putting hundreds of thousands of people’s lives at risk on both sides of the Blue Line [between Israel and Lebanon],” the humanitarian agency said in a statement.

VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, U.N correspondent Margaret Besheer and White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report.