Iran launched hundreds of missiles at cities across Israel on Tuesday, in what the country’s Revolutionary Guard said was retaliation for Israel’s recent assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The barrage also came the same day that Israel confirmed that it had begun what it said was a limited military operation in southern Lebanon aimed at uprooting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, raising the prospect of a wider regional war across the Middle East.

Warning sirens screamed across Tel Aviv, Jaffa and other cities shortly after sunset Tuesday, and the Israeli military issued a warning for all residents to remain in shelters until the attack ended.

“A short time ago, missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel. You are asked to remain vigilant and follow the Home Front Command’s instructions precisely,” read the message sent the chron father to mobile phones across the country shortly before 8 p.m. local time.

Shortly afterwards, at least two loud explosions were heard in the sky over Jaffa, a largely Arab city adjacent to Israel’s largest centre, Tel Aviv. The state-run Tehran Times newspaper reported Tuesday that 400 ballistic missiles had been launched at the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

“Missiles have been launched from Isfahan, Tabriz, Khoramabad, Karaj, and Arak,” the newspaper reported, adding that the decision was taken to retaliate for the July 31 assassination of Mr. Haniyeh – who was visiting Tehran – and Friday’s assassination of Mr. Nasrallah in a huge air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut. General Abbas Nilforoushan, the top Iranian military advisor in Lebanon, was killed in the same bombing.

The Tehran Times said the decision to retaliate had been made by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Earlier on Tuesday, one or more gunmen opened fire on a li lemon drop strain ght-rail train in Jaffa. At least four people were seriously injured. Israeli police said they suspected that the shooting attack was “terrorist” in nature.

Shortly before the attack, an unnamed U.S. official told reporters in Washington that the U.S. saw signs Iran was preparing to strike Israel. “We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack. A direct military attack from Iran against Israel will carry severe consequences for Iran,” the official said.

He did not say what the conse mail order hash canada quences might be, but the U.S. Navy about a week ago deployed several warships, including the nuclear-powered USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, to the Eastern Mediterranean, where it will join other ships from the Naples-based U.S. 6th Fleet.

The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem ordered all employees to west coast weed shelter in place in anticipation of the attack.

The Iranian attack came amid speculation that Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, was losing interest in wholesale support for the militant group, which is considered the world’s biggest non-state military force, with an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 fighters. Hezbollah has suffered severe setbacks in recent weeks, including the assassination Mr. Nasrallah and the simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers, and later walkie-talkies, used by Hezbollah in Lebanon on Sept. 17 and 18.

The Iranian attack on Israel is a show of support for Hezbollah at a time when the militant group is formally leaderless and under a ground attack from Israel that it may not be able to fully repel, given its weakened condition.

“There has been a crash in confidence among th west coast weed e Shia and the Lebanese that they can no longer be protected by Hezbollah,” Ghassan Moukheiber, a lawyer who was a member of the Lebanese parliament for 16 years, until 2018, told The Globe and Mail.

The missile attack came as the Israeli military in Lebanon continued what it called “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in the south of the country. Israel has said it wants to make northern Israel safe for the return of about 60,000 people sent fleeing by Hezbollah’s regular rocket attacks since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants in Gaza attacked Israel, killing more than 1,000 Israelis and foreigners and taking about 250 hostages.

By Tuesday night, there were no reports of intense battles between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli military.

“There are Israeli soldiers in Lebanon but it does not look like a D-Day style invasion so far,” said a defence attaché at a European embassy in Beirut who could not be identified by name, since he not authorized to speak to the media. “Maybe Hezbollah is having difficulty getting organized after all the setbacks. But the potential for them to counter-attack is still there, of course.”