Tel Aviv, March 24 (IANS) A missile fired from Iran struck Tel Aviv on Tuesday, injuring several people and damaging buildings and vehicles, Israeli authorities said.
Loud explosions were heard across the city, with eyewitnesses reporting large plumes of smoke rising from both northern and southern parts of the country’s commercial hub.
Israel’s Army Radio, citing security officials, reported that it was apparently a cluster-type missile containing several bomblets, each weighing about 100 kg, with the bomblets or their fragments impacting several sites, reports Xinhua news agency.
At an impact site in northern Tel Aviv, a missile struck between buildings, “causing a powerful blast wave that heavily damaged three buildings,” Miki David, commander of the Tel Aviv district in the Home Front Command, told reporters at the scene. He said shelters in the buildings remained intact, and those inside were unharmed.
Images shared on social media showed that the impact left a crater.
In a statement, the Israeli military said search and rescue teams were operating at “several sites” in central Israel after impacts were reported.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said six people were lightly injured and did not require hospital treatment.
Air raid sirens were activated seven times across Israel overnight and into Tuesday morning amid continued missile fire from Iran. The last missile attack activated sirens in southern Israel, including in Dimona, where Israel’s nuclear facility is located.
The strike came as the regional conflict entered its 25th day, with tensions remaining high despite US President Donald Trump’s claim of ongoing negotiations, which Iran dismissed as “fake news.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, The New York Times, citing senior defence officials, reported that the Pentagon is weighing a possible deployment of airborne troops to support military operations in Iran.
The combat forces would come from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s “Immediate Response Force,” a brigade of about 3,000 soldiers capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 18 hours, said the report, noting that so far nothing had been ordered by the Pentagon or the US Central Command.
These forces could be used to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, according to the report.
Another option being considered, should US President Donald Trump authorise US troops to seize the island, is an attack by about 2,500 troops from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is on its way to the Middle East, said the report, citing officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
The “Immediate Response Force,” or ready brigade, has deployed on short notice several times in recent years, said the report.
The US Central Command said on Monday that the US military has conducted more than 9,000 strikes in Iran, including damaging or sinking over 140 Iranian naval vessels, since the United States and Israel launched joint military strikes on Iran on February 28, disrupting global shipping, sending oil prices soaring and shaking the global economy.
