Booms and air raid sirens sounded across Israel early Sunday after Iran launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles toward Israel in a retaliatory barrage that pushed the Middle East ever closer to a region-wide war.
The Israeli military’s spokesperson, Rear Admiral 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 more than 10 cruise missiles alone, also outside Israeli airspace.
Hagari said a handful of missiles landed in Israel. Rescuers said a seven-year-old girl in a Bedouin Arab town was seriously wounded in southern Israel, apparently in a missile strike, though they said police were still investigating the circumstances of her injuries. Hagari said a missile struck an army base, causing light damage but no injuries.
“A wide-scale attack by Iran is a major escalation,” he said. Asked whether Israel would respond, Hagari said only that the army “does and will do whatever is required to protect the security of the state of Israel.” He said the incident was not over, and dozens of Israeli warplanes remained in the skies.
WATCH | Flashes, sirens fill sky over Jerusalem:
Explosions in Israeli skies as sirens blare during Iranian attack
13 hours ago
Duration 0:59
Footage from NBC shows explosions and streaks of light in the sky above Jerusalem during Iran’s aerial assault on Israel.
U.S. forces downed some of the Iran-launched drones flying toward Israel, a U.S. defence official and two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, told The Associated Press. Israel’s military said its Arrow system, which shoots down ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere, handled most interceptions and noted that “strategic partners” were involved.
Air raid sirens were reported in numerous places, including northern Israel, southern Israel, the northern West Bank and the Dead Sea near the Jordanian border.
Retaliation for embassy strike
In a statement carried late Saturday by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps acknowledged launching “dozens of drones and missiles towards the occupied territories and positions of the Zionist regime.”
Tehran had vowed revenge since an April 1 airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals inside an Iranian consular building. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack, but Israel hasn’t commented on it.
“Should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” the Iranian mission to the United Nations said of Saturday’s barrage, warning the United States to “stay away.” However, it also said Iran now “deemed the matter concluded.”
An anti-missile system operates in Ashkelon, Israel, early Sunday after Iran launched a barrage of drones and missiles. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.
An Israeli offensive in Hamas-controlled Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 33,000 people, according to local health officials.
Almost immediately after the war erupted, Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, began attacking Israel’s northern border. The two sides have been involved in daily exchanges of fire, while Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have launched rockets and missiles toward Israel.
In a letter to the United Nations early Sunday, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan requested an immediate meeting of the Security Council to condemn Iran’s actions and to designate the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
“The time has come for the Security Council to take concrete action against the Iranian threat,” Erdan wrote.
West denounces Tehran
Condemnation from Western countries was swift.
“Canada unequivocally condemns Iran’s airborne attacks against Israel,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement on Saturday night. “The Iranian regime’s latest actions will further destabilize the region and make lasting peace more difficult.”
WATCH | Trudeau condemns attack by Iran:
Canada ‘unequivocally condemns’ Iran’s attack on Israel, Trudeau says
12 hours ago
Duration 0:41
‘We stand with Israel,’ Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said after Iran launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Israel.
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden cut short a weekend trip to his beach house in Delaware to return to the White House to convene a meeting with his national security team to discuss the attacks.
“Our commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Biden said on social media.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Iran’s actions “reckless” and said they showed it was “intent on sowing chaos in its own backyard.”
Demonstrators wave Iranian and Palestinian flags as they gather at Palestine Square in Tehran on Sunday. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
The foreign ministries of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, called for the exercise of the “utmost restraint” to spare the region and its people from further factors of instability and tension.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who also condemned the attack, called for the immediate cessation of hostilities to avoid “major military confrontations.”
Cargo ship seized
Hours earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The move came days after Tehran said it could close the crucial shipping route and warned it would retaliate for the Israeli strike in Syria.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that a Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries.
This image taken from video shows a helicopter raid targeting a vessel near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. (The Associated Press)
MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company), which operates the Aries, confirmed Iran had seized the ship and said it was working “with the relevant authorities” for its safe return and the well-being of its 25 crew.
MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, Zodiac said in a statement, adding that MSC is responsible for all of the vessel’s activities. Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
Video on Iranian news channels purporting to show the seizure included a figure abseiling from a helicopter onto a ship. Reuters was able to verify that the ship in the video was the MSC Aries but not the date it was recorded.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
