Iran has fired missiles into Israel in response to the Israeli military’s campaign against Tehran’s ally Hezbollah.
Explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley after Israelis sought shelter in bomb shelters as scores of missiles rained down.
Sky News has correspondents reporting from Israel and the Lebanese capital Beirut during this significant escalation in the conflict.
Here’s what they witnessed.
People trying to ‘take some cover’
“We are talking probably in excess of 50, 60, 70 missiles,” said Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall as he gazed up at the sky from Tel Aviv.
He explained that there was a “huge amount of activity in the air above us” and it was hard to distinguish between an incoming missile and one launched by Israel to intercept.
Bunkall said the Iranian missiles were heading towards central Tel Aviv.
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Bunkall says tonight’s strikes appears to be part of a “far larger attack than April” – when Iran fired weapons at Israel after the Israeli military attacked the Iranian embassy in Syria.
Iran appears to have fired ballistic missiles this time, which take 10 to 12 minutes to reach Israel.
Back in April it was drones – much slower and easier to intercept.
“A lot of people” are out in the open air at the moment, Bunkall said tonight.
Some decided to try to continue their journeys home, he added, while others have tried to “get to the side of the road and take some cover, whether that’s under a bridge or in a lay-by somewhere”.
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‘We saw them intercept’
Our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes described the moment she had to take cover from missiles being launched at the Israel-Lebanon border.
She said: “It was actually a rocket that was fired in our direction, because we’re very close to the Lebanese border – and you’ve obviously got simultaneously this Israeli ground offensive that is taking place.
“We’ve been hearing gunfire from one direction – missile fire from the other direction. We first realised that the attack was actually under way was when we saw these streaks of orange high up in the sky above us.
“Clearly the missiles we saw were intended to go much deeper into Israel.
“We then also witnessed intercepts taking place where you could see the glow of an orange ball moving up to impact the missile coming in the other direction.”
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She says there was then an “explosion” when it eventually hit.
“But we did also see some missiles getting through and continuing their route further, deeper into Israel where you would imagine air defences would be deployed.”
“It’s an incredibly difficult operation to try to intercept ballistic missiles anyway, let alone some 200 of them,” she added.
‘An incredibly dangerous moment’
Sirens were going off in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as our lead world presenter Yalda Hakim reported from Beirut in Lebanon.
She said “thuds and bangs were blaring across” Israel.
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Hakim added that she had been speaking to some Israeli people who told her they had been “taking shelter in bunkers at the moment, that they are hearing some interceptions, but they are also unclear about what projectiles have managed to get through”.
“This is an incredibly dangerous moment for Israel, for this region,” she said. “An incredibly tense, frightening moment for the citizens of Israel as we wait and see what damage has actually been done.”
