Israel says 300 Iranian drones and missiles downed in overnight attack

Iran rained a deluge of drones and missiles on Israel on Saturday night in response to a suspected Israeli strike that killed top Iranian officials in Syria, in a deep escalation of Middle East tensions.

Israel said it identified 300 “threats of various types” and eliminated “99%” of those bound for Israeli soil, according to an update from an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. He said a 10-year-old girl was “severely injured by shrapnel” but reported no additional casualties, adding that “several launches” were also made toward Israel from Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.  

Last night marked the first instance of a direct attack on Israel from Iranian territory. Iran-backed factions – such as Palestinian militant group Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemeni Houthi and Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian administration – have engaged militarily with the Jewish state.  

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had seized a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, claiming a connection to Israel.

Iran’s chief of staff of the armed forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, said that Tehran’s operation had now concluded and would involve no further actions, in comments carried by Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency.

“At this juncture, the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention of continuing defensive operations, but if necessary, it will not hesitate to protect its legitimate interests against any new aggression,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on social media on Sunday, according to a Google translation.

Israel and Iran have been on the cusp of direct conflict since the start of Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which came in response to Hamas’ terror attack of Oct. 7. Iran vowed revenge after a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on April 1, which killed several top Iranian military commanders.

“We will not be able to comment on the claims regarding a strike in Damascus,” an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson told CNBC by email, adding, “Iran’s attack on Israel on the night of April 14th is a direct attack on a sovereign nation, its use of proxies for the last decades and the destabilizing effect of the Ayatollah regime in the region and beyond must end.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, has also called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and…