ISRAELI officials met in a secret underground bunker to map out the blueprints for a scorching revenge attack on Iran.
Furious Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu last night insisted the terror state had made a “big mistake” after it unleashed 181 missiles.
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As the first wave of Iranian ballistic missiles was fired into Israel last night, the Israeli security cabinet met at a secret government bunker.
From there, raging Netayahu signalled retaliation would be Israel’s next move.
He warned: “Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.
“The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.
“They will understand. We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us, we will attack him.”
Netanyahu reconvened security heads in Tel Aviv today as Israel looks set to stage a major response to last night’s unprecedented Iranian missile attack – likely to hit Iranian oil plants and air defence system.
US President Joe Biden confirmed that the US – which has moved a huge naval fleet into the region – is working with Israel to fine-tune the response.
Iran blasted Israel with dozens of missiles amid fury over recent airstrikes on Lebanon and the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei now “deeply worried” about Israeli infiltration of senior government ranks in Tehran, according to three Iranian sources.
His fears come after he warned Nasrallah to flee Lebanon days before he was killed in an Israeli strike.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Hezbollah’s booby-trapped pagers on September 17, Khamenei sent a message with an envoy to begging the Hezbollah secretary general to leave for Iran.
He cited intelligence reports that suggested Israel had operatives within Hezbollah and was planning to kill him, one of the sources, a senior Iranian official, told Reuters.
The messenger, the official said, was a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who was with Nasrallah in his bunker when it was hit by Israeli bombs and was also killed.
Khamenei, who has remained in a secure location inside Iran since Saturday, personally ordered a barrage of more than 180 missiles to be fired at Israel on Tuesday, a senior Iranian official said.
It comes as…
Despite Iran’s attack last night, Israel has pressed on with its ground invasion of Lebanon as it pushes Hezbollah back from its northern border.
Israeli troops and tanks poured over the border earlier this week for a much-anticipated showdown with the Iran-back terror proxy.
And today, the first footage of Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon emerged showing Israeli troops scouring Hezbollah sites.
The Middle East now appears a step closer to all-out war as Israel has deployed more troops into Lebanon today.
Israel’s military confirmed infantry and armoured units were joining ground operations in southern Lebanon.
The focus of the operation is clearing out Hezbollah terror sites to halt rocket attacks which have driven 60,000 from homes in Northern Israel in the last 11 months, Israeli sources said.
It claimed actions there would remain “limited and localised”.
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But the addition of infantry and armoured troops could suggest the operation has moved beyond limited commando raids.
Hezbollah’s media boss Mohammad Afif warned the group was “only in the first round” of fighting, however.
The terror group has been firing rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas since the October 7 atrocity last year.
Yet tensions have boiled over in recent weeks – with Israeli airstrikes into Lebanon killing more than 1,000 people.
Israel has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for tens of thousands of its citizens displaced from homes near the Lebanon border to return.
And Hezbollah has vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza with Hamas.
Today, Israel confirmed the deaths of eight soldiers killed in Lebanon.
Their deaths are the first confirmed since Israel invaded.
And the first plane evacuating Brits has left Beirut as civilians scramble to flee the warzone.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We have arranged another flight for tomorrow, and further flights over the coming days for as long as there is demand and it is safe to do so.”
I was sitting eating a pizza – moments later I was running for my life
by Nick Parker, Foreign Editor, in northern Israel
I’D just ordered a coffee in a roadside cafe on my way back from Israel’s northern war zone when the alert flashed up on my phone.
It read: “Iran is preparing an imminent ballistic missile attack against Israel. Please take cover as soon as possible.”
I was sitting in a pizza restaurant in a much-rocketed area north of the coastal port of Haifa when the warning pinged in my pocket.
Moments later I saw other diners picking up their phones as warnings reached them but was impressed by their stoicism as they carried on munching on their margaritas.
These were people who have endured daily rocket attacks from Hezbollah for nearly a year but even they began to shuffle in their seats as more warnings appeared on their mobile security apps.
This was clearly something much bigger than the daily Hezbollah barrage from the north.
And moments later we were jammed in the door as it was confirmed that more than a hundred Iranian ballistic missiles flying at 14 times the speed of sound were on their way.
This was confirmed to be only the first of several waves of attacks heading out way.
We ran across the road into a concrete shelter where English speakers told me to expect to be stuck there for some time as I tapped out my story using the glow of my laptop screen.
Then moments later the first booms split the air high above as Iron Dome interceptors engaged the incoming rockets.
I – probably very foolishly – took a sneak peek into the sky outside and watched trails of red rockets racing up to meet the missiles in a spectacular but potentially deadly firework display.
But scary spectaculars like this have become a way of life for the people of northern Israel – who clearly trust the boffins whose rocket wizardry had saved their lives yet again.
It remained unclear whether Iran’s terror masters had inflicted death or destruction as they attempted to decimate their hated enemy.
And this may be just the first of many terrifying tests for the people of Israel, their enemies and the millions caught in the crossfire as the threat of a catastrophic war looms.