BRUSSELS: The Group of Seven leading industrial countries, or G7, met Sunday and “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s overnight attack on Israel.
“We express our full solidarity and support to Israel and its people and reaffirm our commitment towards its security,” the leaders said after a video meeting in a statement published by the Italian G7 presidency.
Israel said Sunday that Iran launched 320 warheads against it in “an unprecedented attack,” but that its air defenses along with those of the United States and other supportive countries shot down 99% of them.
“With its actions, Iran has further stepped toward the destabilization of the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation,” the G7 statement said. “This must be avoided.”
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, told CNN, “They [Iran] failed in their attack.”
The Sunday G7 session was called by Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the group. Its members include Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States.
Lerner said Tehran targeted a military base that Iran said was used to launch the April 1 attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus that killed two Iranian generals. He said the overnight airstrike “didn’t cause much damage.”
The IDF spokesperson said Iran launched 170 explosive drones against Israel, 120 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles, with most of them coming directly from Iranian territory although some were fired by Iranian militant proxies based in Iraq and Yemen.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN that the “vast majority” of the warheads were launched from Iran. “There was no way to do what they did without violating international air space,” sending them over other countries in the region as it targeted Israel.
(VOA)
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