U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea fired a dozen interceptor missiles to take down some of the 180 rockets fired by Iran at Israel on Tuesday night.

The terrifying attack sparked terror on the streets of Tel Aviv, and was in response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s senior leadership and its ground invasion of southern Lebanon. 

Iranian missiles lit up the sky and smashed into buildings as air sirens blared across Israel just hours after the White House had warned an attack was ‘imminent’.  Stark footage showed Israel’s Iron Dome defense system shooting down some of the incoming projectiles and sending burning fragments to the ground as Americans were urged to take cover in bomb shelters.

A White House spokesman said President Joe Biden had ‘directed the U.S. military to aid Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles targeting Israel.’

Two U.S. destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea – the U.S.S. Cole and U.S.S. Bulkeley – fired a dozen interceptor missiles, the Pentagon confirmed.

Officials said they were still assessing how many Iranian missiles the U.S. took down. 

Speaking at the White House, Sullivan said: ‘U.S. Naval destroyers joined Israeli air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. President Biden and Vice President Harris monitored the attack and the response from the White House situation room.

‘At this time, and I stress at this time, we do not know of any deaths in Israel. We do not know of any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel. In short, based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated effectively.’ Sullivan said it was a ‘significant escalation by Iran’ and Biden is ‘tracking this minute-by-minute.’

He said there was a reported death of a Palestinian civilian in Jericho in the West Bank.

Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, said Israel had ‘effectively defeated this attack’ with the ‘active support of the U.S.’ 

The missiles rained down on Tel Aviv in two major salvos about 15 minutes apart.

In Lebanon, 6,000 American registered with the U.S. State Department for information on how to leave. 

Other nations in the Middle East went on alert. Officials in Baghdad said Iraq is closing its airspace for safety reasons. Jordan also closed its airspace.

It remains unclear exactly what was hit in Israel and what the impact on the ground will be. Tehran was targeting Mossad headquarters and military bases, CNN reported. The headquarters of Israeli’s spy agency is just outside Tel Aviv.

Iran’s decision to attack was reportedly made by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was said to be in a secure location.

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