The scope of the Iranian attack on Tuesday evening began to emerge on Wednesday, as the Israeli military (IDF) reported damage to, among other things, airbases.
"During the Iranian attack, several drones fell in Israeli airbase areas," the IDF announced.
The military emphasized that the attack did not result in any fatalities, neither civilian nor military. No aircraft were hit in the Iranian attack.
Witness footage taken from aircraft shows a powerful explosion near the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad's headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Israel's military leadership said that the number of drones fired at the country from 180 to around 200 had been written up.
The EU's aviation authority Easa issued a warning to avoid all air traffic over Iranian airspace "at all altitudes" until the end of the month.
Attack Concluded
Iran announced on Wednesday that the massive drone attack was concluded, and that Tehran was not preparing further military attacks against Israel. The message came from Iran's UN delegation in New York.
The messages were simultaneously ambiguous from Iran's leadership. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday to Iranian students that he was still mourning the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack on the movement's headquarters in Lebanon and that "this was not a small thing".
The Ayatollah – Iran's highest leader – was reportedly scheduled to speak at the upcoming Friday prayer, which is very unusual. The Revolutionary Guard withdrew the reports on Wednesday afternoon.
Security Cabinet in Meeting
Israel's military and security officials gathered at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Wednesday afternoon for consultations.
The US and President Joe Biden simultaneously tried to persuade the parties not to escalate the crisis. Biden responded to a direct question about whether he would support an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear energy program.
The answer is no, said Biden in a meeting with reporters directly after he had a call with the G7 countries – Germany, the UK, France, Canada, and Japan – to coordinate new sanctions against Iran.
The US military actively participated in efforts to stop the Iranian drone attacks. The UK government also announced that two fighter jets had participated in the efforts, although without attacking direct targets.
