‘Fireworks Display Over Tel Aviv’: IDF Says Iran Attack On Israel Appears To Be Over, No Major Injuries Reported

The IDF declared the Iranian attack on Israel over soon after it began on Tuesday, saying that after an initial barrage of some 180 ballistic missiles, “no additional threats from Iran are detected in Israel’s airspace.” CNN contributor Barak Ravid quoted IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari as saying the attack was over as the IDF told Israelis it was safe to leave their bomb shelters.

On CNN, anchor Kaitlin Collins spoke to international diplomatic correspondent Nic Robertson from Haifa, Israel.

“And Nic, obviously, when you heard from Israel last night, the IDF confirmed they were sending ground forces into across the northern border into Lebanon. They were describing it is limited targeted raids. They had been bracing for a response, though, since Netanyahu was here in New York. And we were first hearing that Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in that strike. They obviously knew something was going to happen. There is a big question now of how Israel is going to respond to this attack?” asked Collins.

Robertson replied, “And Israel has made very, very clear, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, made it clear at the U.N. General Assembly that Israel has a long reach and if it’s attacked, it can reach its enemies, that it had a long-range in fact, its second-longest range combat mission over the weekend to target Houthis in Yemen.” Robertson added:

And that part of that was not just to target the infrastructure, but also to send a message to Iran. And that was the message that was given by the defense minister, the chief of staff, the prime minister, again, that that same evening. So it does seem in the context of Israel and the way that Israel projects itself and creates that sense of deterrence, that Israel will be compelled because that’s the way it sees it needs to operate in a region where it sees it is surrounded by enemies, that it will be compelled to try to keep that sense of deterrence, which means it will be compelled to respond. The scale of that response might be moderated by the pressure of allies like the United States.

It’s not clear it will be up to Israel to look at the damage and assess the damage and assess the success that Iran may or may not have had. And to that point, looking at that. One of the what appeared to be an impact to the north, that Tel Aviv that Jim was describing, I can’t say what that location was, but I absolutely know that area was in the vicinity of one of the stated targets of Iran.

Initial reports from Israel show that there were no major injuries from the attack despite images of what appeared to be missile strikes or at least fragments of missiles hitting the ground. However, a mass shooting in south Tel Aviv left at least 8 people dead and is being considered an attack of terrorism.

Collins replayed images of the attack, in which CNN’s Jim Sciutto described the missiles overhead. “It’s a major attack, Dana, and it’s an escalation. It’s an escalation of this war beyond what we saw, I think potentially beyond what we saw in April when it when Iran launched dozens of missiles and drones. This attack, according to U.S. intelligence, principally or perhaps entirely ballistic missiles, which are the fastest by far and the most dangerous. And now what we’re seeing in addition to those intercepts is we’re seeing fragments falling to the ground. It’s like a. Yeah. A deadly. A deadly fireworks display over Tel Aviv,” he said.

Watch the full clip above via CNN.