Iran Escalates Multi-Front Assault on Israel as Missiles Rain on Jewish State

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The Islamic Republic of Iran escalated its multiple-front assault on Israel on October 1, launching a massive barrage of more than 180 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state from Iranian soil. Air raid sirens sounded throughout the country as approximately 10 million Israelis rushed to bomb shelters. Speaking in the wake of the attack, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that Iran and its proxies had been attacking Israel on seven fronts since the Hamas atrocities nearly one year ago, describing the missile barrage — the second this year, following Iran’s earlier assault with more than 300 projectiles on April 13-14 — as a “severe and dangerous escalation” that will prompt an Israeli response. “We are on heightened alert on defense and offensive, we will protect the citizens of Israel. This [missile] fire will have consequences. We have plans, and we will act in the time and place that we choose,” Hagari said.

The sole fatality of the Iranian attack was a Palestinian man in the West Bank city of Jericho who was killed by falling shrapnel. “A Palestinian worker in Jericho was killed when pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him,” Jericho Governor Hussein Hamayel told the Agence France-Presse news agency. Two Israeli civilians were lightly wounded by shrapnel, while several more minor injuries were incurred as people dashed to the air raid shelters, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response service. 

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris monitored the attack from the White House Situation Room. Biden directed the U.S. military, which recently boosted its presence in the region, to aid In Israel’s defense, according to ABC News. The White House had warned of an imminent Iranian attack on Israel throughout the day.

Less than an hour before Iran’s missile barrage, two Palestinian terrorists — one carrying an assault rifle and the other a knife — emerged from a light rail train in Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv, and began shooting and stabbing civilians, moving on foot towards Jerusalem Street. Six Israelis were killed in the attack and at least nine others were wounded. A municipal security officer and armed civilians killed both terrorists, who came from the West Bank city of Hebron and were named as Muhammad Chalaf Sahar Rajab and Hassan Muhammad Hassan Tamimi.

Earlier in the day, Israeli ground forces entered southern Lebanon in what the IDF described as “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah positions along the frontier, advancing half a kilometer into Lebanon. Troops and tanks, backed by the air force and preceded by an artillery barrage, moved across the border under the cover of darkness in the latest stage of the two-week-old Operation Northern Arrows, which aims to secure the safe return of more than 60,000 Israelis displaced from their homes in the north by the Iran-backed terrorist organization’s missile attacks.

According to intelligence assessments, more than 2,000 terrorists belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force await the IDF in Lebanese Shia communities within five miles of the border. The front-line communities are also filigreed with tunnels, bunkers, and firing positions. The IDF has already begun destroying Hezbollah’s cross-border tunnels, which are dug from solid rock and are more challenging to construct than Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza, which are hewn from sand.

Expert Analysis

“While causing fear and distress among Israelis sent rushing to their shelters, Iran’s latest missile barrage has not resulted in mass casualties nor dented Israel’s determination to defend itself from Tehran’s aggression. Iran’s most visible achievement with this attack has been to remind the world that the Islamic Republic is an abiding threat and that its removal is a necessary condition for peace and stability in the region.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“Hezbollah’s response to the rapid blows delivered by Israel — starting with the telecommunications device attack and culminating with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination — has been underwhelming so far. That Iran had to retaliate for Nasrallah’s assassination on Hezbollah’s behalf attests to the organization’s current state of affairs.” — David Daoud, FDD Senior Fellow

“Since June 2021, Palestinian terrorist groups, and those inspired by them, have been on a campaign of terrorism in the West Bank and Israeli territory. Much of the violence has been fueled by Iran’s efforts to destabilize the West Bank and pressure Israel on a new front. Despite significant gains achieved through Israeli counterterrorism efforts, violence persists. It’s time for a new strategy to be developed that effectively addresses the growing problem of terrorism from the West Bank.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

Related Analysis

“The threat of all-out Middle East war looms: two scenarios,” by Mark Dubowitz

“The Contest of Wills Between Israel and Hezbollah,” by David Daoud and Ahmad Sharawi

“Netanyahu to Iranian People: ‘Israel Stands With You,’” FDD Flash Brief