Iran’s new missile barrage sends Israeli settlers fleeing and hits key targets

At approximately 4:50 a.m. local time on Monday, hundreds of missiles were fired from Iran toward strategic and sensitive targets in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The retaliatory operation, which was launched on Friday, is being carried out under the code name “Ya Ali ibn Abi Talib,” coinciding with the blessed occasion of Eid al-Ghadir.

Sirens blared across the occupied territories as Israeli authorities ordered settlers to immediately seek refuge in underground shelters, according to Israeli media reports.

Videos circulating on social media captured Iranian missiles breaching multiple layers of Israel’s air defense systems to strike their designated targets.

Among the sites hit, the Haifa power plant was seen engulfed in flames following an Iranian missile strike, as shown in a widely shared video.

Located in the northern occupied territories, Haifa power plant is a critical component of the Zionist entity's energy infrastructure and has come under a series of attacks since October 7, 2023.

The plant, guarded by the much-hyped Arrow 3 air defense system, was attacked and destroyed by an Iranian missile attack, according to Israeli media.

Bazan oil refinery complex, the largest oil refinery in the occupied territories that processes approximately 200,000 barrels of oil per day, also reportedly sustained extensive damage to pipelines.

According to the Israeli media reports, the occupation army called on settlers not to film the locations where missiles made impact and created scenes of devastation.

A massive power outage was reported across central parts of the occupied territories shortly after Iranian missiles struck their designated targets, plunging several areas into darkness.

One of the missiles reportedly hit a high-rise building in Ramat Gan, causing severe structural damage. In Petah Tikva, municipal officials confirmed that a missile struck a building there as well, prompting emergency and rescue teams to rush to the scene to provide medical assistance.

In a jibe aimed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli media quoted a settler saying, "When we emerge from the shelters after this wave of missile strikes ends, we’ll find the ‘complete victory’ Netanyahu promised proudly displayed across Tel Aviv’s shattered squares."

Preliminary estimates indicate that at least eight buildings have been destroyed in the latest wave of Iranian missile strikes, with more than two dozen settlers reported injured.

There are also reports of dozens of settlers trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings in Tel Aviv, as rescue teams work to pull them out.

In a statement after the latest phase of Operation True Promise III ended, the IRGC described the Monday morning strikes as “more powerful and crushing” than the previous seven phases.

According to the statement, the operation specifically targeted the Zionist regime’s command and control systems using advanced tactics and enhanced intelligence-tech capabilities bolstered by the legacy and efforts of martyred commanders, including Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

“As a result,” the statement noted, “the enemy’s multilayered defense systems were thrown into disarray, to the point where their own air defense units began firing on each other.”

The IRGC statement emphasized that despite the regime’s access to cutting-edge Western defense technology and full-scale backing from the US and other powers, Iran’s precision strikes successfully penetrated critical targets across the occupied territories.

The latest phase, the statement noted, also exposed the “catastrophic miscalculations” of the “delusional and aggressor Zionist and American enemies” regarding Iran’s capabilities.

“The moment has come to witness the collapse of the occupying Zionist regime,” it declared.

In a stern warning to the regime’s international backers, the IRGC said the supporters of this criminal entity should be aware that “targeted, powerful, and relentless operations against the regime’s vital centers will continue until its complete annihilation.”

IRGC: New methods were used in attack, causing Israeli systems to target each other

On Sunday, Iran’s armed forces had issued a stern warning to settlers in the occupied territories, advising them to evacuate immediately for their own safety.

Colonel Reza Sayyad, spokesperson for Iran’s Armed Forces Communications Center, warned settlers that remaining in the area would place their lives in grave danger, as Iran prepares for a “crushing” retaliation to recent Israeli military aggression.

“Leave the occupied territories. Leaving this occupied land is the only way to preserve your lives,” Colonel Sayyad said in the video statement, slamming the “Zionist regime” for criminal aggression against the Islamic Republic.

This retaliatory operation comes in the wake of Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran that started on Friday morning and has resulted in the assassinations of many high-ranking Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians, including children and women.

Among those martyred are Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces; IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami; Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the IRGC Aerospace Division; senior IRGC commander General Gholam Ali Rashid; and Brigadier General Mohammad Kazemi, head of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization.

Nuclear scientists Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi, Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, and Dr. Abdolhamid Minoucher were also martyred in separate attacks

Before the True Promise III operation was launched on Friday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said the Zionist regime made a "big mistake, a grave error" by targeting civilian areas across Iran and warned that the consequences will "ruin them."

"The Iranian nation will not overlook the blood of its precious martyrs and will not ignore the aggression against its sky," he declared in a televised message.

In the strikes on Sunday morning, the IRGC struck the Israeli regime’s fighter jet fuel production facilities and energy supply lines in Haifa with a massive barrage of missiles and drones.

Brigadier General Ali Mohammad Naeini, the spokesperson for the IRGC, said the operations of the Iranian armed forces will continue with “even greater force and scale” if the acts of aggression persist.

On Sunday afternoon, the IRGC carried out another wave of missile and drone strikes against the Zionist regime, as huge explosions were heard in upper and lower Galilee, Haifa, Afula, and Nazareth.

Sirens sounded in the occupied territories and Israeli settlers were seen fleeing towards shelters.

Shortly afterward, a heavy barrage of missiles struck Tel Aviv, Haifa, and southern parts of the occupied territories. A hypersonic missile hit the strategic Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv directly.