Iranian opposition figures condemn attack on Israel, call for uprising

Reza Pahlavi attends the official Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on April 17, 2023. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Prominent Iranian opposition figures condemn Iran’s drone attack on Israel, calling it contrary to the will of most Iranians, whom they urge to oppose the regime of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“Khamenei’s war is not Iran’s war or that of the Iranian nation,” Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince of Iran, who is living in exile in the United States, writes on Facebook.

“Khamenei and his regime have turned Iran into a backward and isolated country, and by involving the nation and the state in another war, they only add to the misery of Iranians,” Pahlavi adds.

The path to “lasting peace and security in the Middle East,” writes Pahlavi, “is to support the people of Iran who are fighting to reclaim our country and our rightful place in the world.”

Afshin Ellian, a well-known law professor who fled Iran for the Netherlands, writes on X: “Despite the attack on Israel, the Iranian population has been and is against this criminal regime [of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei]. The Iranian resistance movement is ready to fight Khamenei’s regime,” he writes.

Pouria Zeraati, a television anchor at the UK-based channel Iran International, calls the Iranian Revolutionary Guards “terrorists” on X, and mocks its codename for the attack on Israel, “Honest Promise.”

Iran launches wave of ballistic missiles against Israel, claims Iranian state news agency

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard launch underground ballistic missiles during a military exercise, July 29, 2020. (IRGC via AP)

A source tells Iran’s state news agency that Tehran has launched its first wave of ballistic missiles against Israel.

According to Brigadier General (res.) Zvika Haimovich, former head of IAF Aerial Defense, such missiles should take around 11-12 minutes to reach Israel.

Iran threatens any country which ‘opens its airspace’ to Israeli attack on Iran

In this image released by the Iranian army on Jan. 23, 2024, army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, left, and Defense Minister Gen. Mohammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiani talk in a ceremony to deliver the domestically built drones to the army, Iran. (Iranian Army via AP)

Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warns that Tehran will firmly respond to any country that “opens its airspace or territory for attacks on Iran by Israel,” Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reports.

IDF cancels planned draft of new conscripts Sunday

Illustrative: A group of new IDF recruits at a Meitav Induction Base, July 25, 2010. (Roni Schutzer/Flash90)

The IDF says it has canceled its planned draft day Sunday amid the Iranian attack on Israel.

New conscripts will receive a new date for their draft at a later time.

Sirens sound in northern town after rockets fired from Lebanon

The Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon, as seen over the Hula Valley, April 12, 2024 (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Sirens sound in the northern Israeli community of Snir, amid a rocket attack from Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been carrying out daily attacks on northern Israel amid the war in the Gaza Strip.

There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the attack.

UK’s Sunak condemns ‘reckless’ Iranian attack on Israel aimed at ‘sowing chaos’

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addresses the media at Downing Street in London, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he condemns Iran’s “reckless” attack against Israel.

“These strikes risk inflaming tensions and destabilizing the region. Iran has once again demonstrated that it is intent on sowing chaos in its own backyard,” Sunak says in a statement.

“The UK will continue to stand up for Israel’s security and that of all our regional partners, including Jordan and Iraq,” he adds.

Jordan declares state of emergency over Iranian attack on Israel

Jordan has declared a state of emergency, state-owned Al Mamlaka news reports, amid fears of an Iranian attack on Israel.

Earlier this evening, Jordan announced it is temporarily closing its airspace to all incoming, departing and transit aircraft, saying the situation would be “continuously updated and reviewed according to developments.”

Interference in Jordanian air traffic affected Jordan’s GPS system prompting planes in the area to use alternative navigation systems, Haitham Misto, the chairman of Jordan’s Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission, says on Al-Mamlaka.

Syrian army puts its missile systems on high alert, say army sources

Smoke billows from an airstrike in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province, on August 26, 2023. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Syria put on high alert its Russian-made Pantsir ground-to-air defense systems around the capital Damascus and major bases in the event of an Israeli strike, army sources say.

They say they expect Israel to retaliate against army bases and installations where pro-Iranian militia are based after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said they launched dozens of drones and missiles against specific targets in Israel.