Iran launches missile attack on Israel: Update 2

Updates with details throughout.

A missile attack by Iran against targets in Israel has not resulted in significant damage or many fatalities, according to the White House and the Pentagon.

Iran today launched over 200 missiles against Israel after Israeli forces had begun ground operations in southern Lebanon. The Middle East region has been braced for Iran to attack Israel since the leader of Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran in July. Tensions have grown in recent weeks after Israel stepped up attacks against Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, culminating in the killing of the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on 27 September.

The Iranian missile barrage aimed at Israel "appears to have been defeated and ineffective," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in the aftermath of the attack. At the direction of President Joe Biden, "US naval destroyers joined Israeli air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles," Sullivan said.

"We do not know of any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel," and the only reported fatality is of a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank, Sullivan said.

Chevron said it shut in its Tamar and Leviathan gas platforms offshore Israel for a brief period of time, as a precautionary measure, adding that "we can confirm that our people and facilities are safe."

The US had forewarning of the Iranian attack, which it shared with Israel. Biden and vice president Kamala Harris monitored the Iranian attack and the US response to it from the White House situation room.

November Nymex WTI peaked at $71.94/bl earlier in Tuesday's session, but retraced those gains after the attack appeared to have inflicted little damage.

The last Iranian direct missile attack on Israel, in April, led to a restrained Israeli retaliation on targets inside Iran, with the US, China and other regional powers intervening to prevent a further escalation.

How Israel will retaliate this time remains to be seen, and the US, at least publicly, is not restricting its ally's possible actions.

"We've had some initial discussions with the Israelis in the aftermath of this, at the military level and also at the White House to prime minister's office level," Sullivan said. "We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests, and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible."

By James Keates and Haik Gugarats