Attack from Iran: Ballistic missiles pierce Israel's night sky

An eyewitness account of rockets and interceptors battling over Israel as sirens blare and bomb shelters fill

Iranian missiles intercepted by Israel above Jerusalem. The attack was witnessed by The National. AFP

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At 7.29pm on Tuesday evening, I had settled down to read a book when my phone vibrated vigorously. Israel's ‘Emergency Alert’ flashed up with a large exclamation mark in a yellow triangle and a few sentences of Hebrew.

Unable to translate and somewhat curious that my phone had been activated without signing up for any app, I went online to see that emergency alerts across Israel were telling people Iran was attacking and to get to bomb shelters in minutes.

The scene stood in stark contrast to the bombings in Gaza and Lebanon, where sirens are absent, and residents often receive no warning before being bombed or forcibly displaced.

In Lebanon, people have watched with fear over the past weeks as the country faces yet another all-out war with Israel, aware that their safety remains largely in their own hands due to the lack of adequate shelters to offer protection from attacks.

Not seeing Jerusalem on the list was reassuring. Less so when I opened my hotel room’s balcony doors to see a bright light soaring across the sky 1,500 metres up. Too fast for a jet, it became clear that the yellow flame spewing from the rocket motors meant that this was a missile.

That it was from Iran was fairly conclusive, too. Three hours earlier, the Americans had made it known that Tehran would launch an attack imminently, claiming it was to revenge the killing of Hamas's leader in Tehran, and Hezbollah's chief in Beirut.

At that point, a curious hiatus began, and the threat in Jerusalem did not seem high as it had not previously been a target.

The American Colony's bomb shelter, Jerusalem.

Somewhat reassured, I went to Salah al-Din Street to buy some clothes after El Al airline had left my luggage in London. There was an atmosphere of hesitation among the few shoppers, perhaps because Israel’s Home Front Command had, very rarely for Jerusalem, just issued restrictions limiting public gatherings to under 25 people outside because of the threat.

Returning to Jerusalem’s well-heeled hotel with its reassuringly thick 19th century walls, all seemed well until the phone interruption, shortly followed by a few sirens breaking out.

On the hotel balcony, I saw the first rocket approach overhead, soaring through the night sky over the centre of Jerusalem. Any thought that this was anything other than a statement of Iran’s intent was banished as the barrage grew in number and full-throated sirens kicked in. Rockets came from various directions, mostly north, and I began filming the clear flames from their motors as they streaked comet-like through the Jerusalem night.

At least ten had flown over when the Iron Dome, or David Sling, interceptor systems activated. A streak of four or five red flares powered into the sky followed by a mighty boom as they detonated the incoming threat.

It was an odd experience watching the deadly projectiles smoothly pass over. But having been close to their terminal end several times while embedded with the British military in Basra during the Iraq occupation, it was clearly time to seek refuge.

Iran's attack was yet another escalation in the regional conflict that started in Gaza, where Israel's war has killed more than 41,500 people since it began almost a year ago following the deadly attacks by Hamas on southern Israel, and forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been living in tents since then, with minimum access to food and water.

I hurried down silent corridors and stairs to the Colony’s bomb shelter passing a television crew on the way up, anxious to get pictures of the action.

In the closeted room filled with soft drinks, a coffee machine and microwave, aid workers, diplomats, journalists and their security teams hunkered down. The excited chatter subsided for a few seconds as distinct bangs could be heard even from the bunker’s safety, either rockets impacting or interceptors engaging.

The barrage brought with it not only worry but concern, too, for what families might be thinking back home.

“It’s never good being under attack in any form when you're not in the same country as your children or husband,” said filmmaker Lucy Lyon, after the attack. “What was really going through my mind was that I didn't want them to be watching the news and for it to look worse for them than it felt for me.”

Her colleague, the documentary producer Gillian Mosely, admitted she felt “disbelief at what was unfolding” when her phone and others began lighting up with alerts while sat in the Colony’s summer garden.

Having finished filming, the pair are leaving Israel, but with so many flights cancelled, they are exiting either via Jordan or Egypt.

They leave behind a country and region facing great uncertainty and danger, as the ongoing war in the Middle East continues to take lives. Over 1,870 people have died in Lebanon, where the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated into street fighting, raising fears of further bloodshed.