‘We saw the explosions’: What Sky correspondents on the ground witnessed

Iran has fired missiles into Israel in response to the Israeli military’s campaign against Tehran’s ally Hezbollah.

Explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley after Israelis sought shelter in bomb shelters as scores of missiles rained down.

Sky News has correspondents reporting from Israel and the Lebanese capital Beirut during this significant escalation in the conflict.

Here’s what they witnessed.

People trying ‘take some cover’

“We are talking probably in excess of 50, 60, 70 missiles,” said Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall as he gazed up at the sky from Tel Aviv.

He explained that there was a “huge amount of activity in the air above us” and it was hard to distinguish between an incoming missile and one launched by Israel to intercept.

Bunkall said the Iranian missiles were heading towards central Tel Aviv.

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Bunkall says tonight’s strikes appears to be part of a “far larger attack than April” – when Iran fired weapons at Israel after the Israeli military attacked the Iranian embassy in Syria.

Iran appears to have fired ballistic missiles this time, which take 10 to 12 minutes to reach Israel.

Back in April it was drones – much slower and easier to intercept.

“A lot of people” are out in the open air at the moment, Bunkall said tonight.

Some decided to try to continue their journeys home, he added, while others have tried to “get to the side of the road and take some cover, whether that’s under a bridge or in a lay-by somewhere”.

‘We saw them intercept’

Iron Dome rockets have been seen going up to intercept missiles, said our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes, who is in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon.

“We saw the Iranian missiles streaking across the sky, we saw the intercepts and then we saw the explosions when the intercepts were successful,” Haynes said.

“It’s an incredibly difficult operation to try to intercept ballistic missiles anyway, let alone some 200 of them,” she added.

Haynes also said she heard “small arms fire” nearby during the missile attack.

“While these strikes from Iran are being launched towards Israel, Israeli forces have launched their limited group operation into Lebanon,” she said.

‘An incredibly dangerous moment’

Sirens were going off in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as our lead world presenter Yalda Hakim reported from Beirut in Lebanon.

She said “thuds and bangs were blaring across” Israel.

Hakim added that she had been speaking to some Israeli people who told her they had been “taking shelter in bunkers at the moment, that they are hearing some interceptions, but they are also unclear about what projectiles have managed to get through”.

“This is an incredibly dangerous moment for Israel, for this region,” she said. “An incredibly tense, frightening moment for the citizens of Israel as we wait and see what damage has actually been done.”