British News Agency

“We are monitoring the threat in the airspace. It is a threat that takes several hours to reach the territory of the State of Israel” said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari and stated that Israel would work “in close coordination” with the U.S. and regional partners to intercept the launches.

Ahead of the attacks on Saturday, President Joe Biden was en route back to the White House, earlier than initially scheduled, to meet with his national security team, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, amid the growing prospect of an Iranian strike.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a Saturday statement that the missile and drone launches were “in response to the crimes by the Zionist Regime.”

Iranian leaders, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had previously pledged to retaliate against Israel for the Damascus strike and Israel, in turn, threatened a counterattack of its own. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the Damascus attack.

“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will react and attack Iran,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz wrote in a Wednesday post on X, tagging the Ayatollah’s X account.