INTUSK MAGAZINE

With the six-month-old Gaza conflict threatening to turn the Middle East into a full-fledged regional conflict, Iran has launched hundreds of drones and cruise missiles towards Israel, marking the Islamic Republic's first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state. This move brings years of covert warfare into the open and puts world capitals on high alert for a significant escalation. 

The Israeli military and sources cited by Iran's state-affiliated Press TV verified the launch of what are thought to be potent Shahed-136 drones made in Iran at about 11 p.m. local time on Saturday. There have been more than 100 drone launches, according to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

It was anticipated that the onslaught would occur across several hours. Around two in the morning local time (midnight BST), the first wave arrived in Israel, causing sirens to sound throughout the nation and explosions to be seen and heard in the sky in many locations. The contested city of Jerusalem, the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, and the Israeli nuclear reactor located in the desert city of Dimona all seemed to have been targeted. 

According to Israeli intelligence sources cited by the New York Times, Israeli military outposts in the occupied Golan Heights in the far north and the Negev desert in the far south are thought to be the likely targets.

The attack on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 1 that resulted in the deaths of eight other officers and General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards, has sparked nearly two weeks of conjecture about how, when, and where Tehran or its proxy forces would respond. 

It is rare for Israeli officials to take credit for assaults that occur on foreign territory. Tehran has attributed the strike to Israel. 

Fears over what is now a rapidly escalating tit-for-tat have been raised as Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that their forces would strike Iran directly if it launched any retaliatory action from its territory. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly promised to respond against Israel over the attack.