JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran fired at least 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regional war.

Iran said the barrage was in retaliation for a series of attacks devastating blows Israel has landed in Lebanon in recent weeks against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets at Israel ever since the war in Gaza began. Early Tuesday, Israel launched what it said was a limited ground attack in southern Lebanon.

Israelis ran for bomb shelters as air raid sirens wailed and the orange glow of rockets flashed across the night sky.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the country's air defenses intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles, although some landed in central and southern Israel. According to the Israeli emergency service, two people were slightly injured by shrapnel. In the West Bank, Palestinian officials said a Palestinian was killed by a rocket that landed near the city of Jericho. However, it is unclear where the attack originated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late Tuesday retaliatory measures against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it.”

The Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Mohammad Bagheri, warned that Iran would respond to actions against its territory with attacks on all of Israel's infrastructure with “multiplied intensity.”

Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire bombarded southern Lebanese villages on Tuesday, and Hezbollah responded with rocket fire into Israel. There was initially no information on the number of victims.

Shortly before Iran fired its missiles, a shooting attack in Tel Aviv killed at least six people, police said, adding that the two suspects who opened fire on a boulevard in the Jaffa district were also killed.

Fear of a major conflict

Hezbollah and Hamas are close allies backed by Iran, and any escalation has raised fears of a larger war in the Middle East that could involve Iran and the United States has sent military assets to the region in support of Israel.

Israel and Iran have been waging a shadow war for years, but direct conflict has rarely occurred.

The UN Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday morning to address the escalating situation in the Middle East.

Iran launched another direct attack on Israel in April, but Only a few of his projectiles reached their target. Many were shot down by a US-led coalition, others apparently failed to take off or crashed in flight.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called the Iranian missile attack a “significant escalation,” although he said it was ultimately “down and ineffective,” due in part to the U.S. military's assistance in shooting down some of the incoming missiles be attributed. President Joe Biden said his administration “fully supports” Israel and that he is in “active discussion” with advisers about what the appropriate response to Tehran should be.

Iran said it fired the rockets on Tuesday in retaliation for attacks that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. It referred to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard General Abbas Nilforushan, both of whom were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last week. It also mentioned Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader who was assassinated in a suspected Israeli attack in Tehran in July.

Israel has said it will continue attacks on Hezbollah until it is safe for citizens displaced from their homes near the Lebanese border to return. Hezbollah has vowed to continue firing rockets at Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza with Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.

Questions have been raised about the entry of Israeli forces

While Hezbollah denied that Israeli troops had entered Lebanon, the Israeli army said it had also carried out dozens of covert ground attacks in southern Lebanon for almost a year.

If true, it would be another humiliating blow to Hezbollah, the most powerful armed group in the Middle East. Hezbollah suffered from weeks of targeted attacks that killed people Nasrallah and several of his top commanders.

On Tuesday morning, Israel warned people in southern Lebanon to evacuate north of the Awali River, about 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and much further than the Litani River, which marks Lebanon's northern edge a UN declared zone It was intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after their 2006 war.

The border region has largely emptied over the past year due to a firefight between the two sides.

An Associated Press reporter saw Israeli troops operating in armored trucks near the border and helicopters circling overhead, but could not confirm that ground troops had entered Lebanon.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has experienced sporadic incursions by Israeli forces, but “they have not experienced a full-scale invasion.”

Ahead of Israel's announcement of an invasion, US officials said on Monday that Israel had described launching small raids in Lebanon to prepare for a broader operation.

Hagari, the Israeli army spokesman, said Israel had carried out dozens of small raids in Lebanon since October 8, when Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel after the war broke out in Gaza. He said Israeli forces crossed the border to gather intelligence and destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure, including tunnels and weapons. Israel said Hezbollah was preparing its own October 7-style attack on Israel. It was not immediately possible to confirm these claims.

Hagari said Israel's objectives for its current ground offensive in Lebanon were limited. “We’re not going to Beirut,” he said.

The Israeli military was accused of lying to the media in 2021 when it released a statement saying ground forces had entered Gaza. The military played down the incident as a misunderstanding, but well-informed military commentators in Israel said it was part of a ruse to lure Hamas into the fight.

Israel attacks more targets and Hezbollah fires rockets

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired rockets into central Israel on Tuesday, triggering air raid sirens and injuring one man. Hezbollah said it fired volleys of a new medium-range missile at the headquarters of two Israeli intelligence agencies near Tel Aviv. Hezbollah also fired projectiles at Israeli communities near the border, targeting soldiers without injuring anyone.

Israel's statements suggested it could focus its ground operations on the narrow strip along the border rather than launching a larger invasion aimed at destroying Hezbollah, as it attempted against Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.

Hezbollah is a well-trained militia believed to have tens of thousands of fighters and an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles. The last round of fighting in 2006 ended in a stalemate, and both sides have spent the last two decades preparing for their next showdown.

The group's acting leader, Naim Kassem, said Monday that Hezbollah commanders killed in recent weeks had already been replaced.

As fighting intensifies, European countries have begun withdrawing their diplomats and citizens from Lebanon.

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Mroue reported from Beirut and Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Zeke Miller and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; and Associated Press producer Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran contributed.

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