Video: Foreign nationals evacuated from Israel arrive in Bulgaria
NewsFeed Video: Foreign nationals evacuated from Israel arrive in Bulgaria
A number of foreign- and dual-nationality citizens evacuated from Israel have arrived in Bulgaria. A flight with 148 passengers arrived in Sofia carrying citizens of Bulgaria, Slovenia, the United States, Belgium, Albania, Kosovo and Romania.
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Al Jazeera
12 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
How has Iran managed to pierce through Israel's air defence systems?
Israel's launch of air attacks against Iran on Friday prompted Tehran to fire a wave of retaliatory strikes on Israel, and some Iranian ballistic missiles have pierced through Israel's missile defence systems and hit key targets. Israel's escalating attacks have killed more than 240 people, including 70 women and children, in Iran. In retaliation, Iran has fired about 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel, wounding hundreds and forcing Israelis across the country to take cover in bomb shelters. Some Iranian strikes have hit residential areas in central Israel, causing heavy damage. Israel's fortified military headquarters in Tel Aviv, the Kirya, was also hit although damage was limited there. On Tuesday, Iran said it hit a military intelligence centre and a Mossad spy agency operations planning centre, breaching Israel's advanced missile defence systems – some of the most advanced in the world. In recent history, Israel has successfully intercepted most aerial attacks coming its way through these systems, such as its signature Iron Dome. So how are Iranian missiles making it past Israel's air defences? While the Iron Dome is at the heart of Israel's air defences, it is only a part of a larger system, comprising 'the lowest level of these multitiered, integrated air defences,' said Alex Gatopoulos, Al Jazeera's defence editor. The Iron Dome detects an incoming rocket or missile, determines its path and intercepts it. Israel said the Iron Dome is 90 percent effective. It became operational in 2011 after it was developed to counter rocket attacks during the war with Hezbollah in 2006. Gatopoulos explained that the Iron Dome was designed to intercept low-level rockets that larger systems would not be able to detect. Israel also has the Barak-8 surface-to-air missile system, which intercepts medium-range missiles; the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which intercepts short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles; and the David's Sling, which intercepts medium- to long-range missiles. The Israeli missile defence systems use the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors to intercept long-range missiles, such as Iranian missiles fired in the current conflict. The main contractor for the Arrow project is state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, and Boeing is involved in making the interceptors. The Arrow-2 is designed to intercept incoming missiles at slightly higher altitudes within and outside the Earth's atmosphere. Besides using air defence systems, Israel also carries out air-to-air missile defence, which involves the use of aircraft, such as combat helicopters or fighter jets, to destroy drones heading towards Israel. Israeli air defence systems are made of three components: a radar system, a command and control centre, and a launcher with interceptor missiles. An incoming enemy missile is tracked on the radar, which alerts the control centre to assess which targets to engage. The launcher normally sends out two interceptor missiles for one incoming enemy missile, Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London, told Al Jazeera. All air defence systems are equipped with a limited number of interceptor missiles, and the exact number of interceptor missiles in Israel's air defence systems is unknown to the public. On Saturday, an Israeli military official said its defence systems had an '80 or 90 percent success rate', emphasising that no system has a perfect rate, the Reuters news agency reported without naming the official. This means that some Iranian missiles had pierced the fortifications. While we do not know exactly how some Iranian missiles made it past Israeli air defence systems, there are a few possible ways Iranian drones and missiles managed to avoid interception. One way Iran possibly evaded Israeli air defences is by exhausting Israel's interceptor missiles. 'No system shoots down 100 percent [missiles] anyway,' Miron said, adding: 'You cannot shoot down more missiles if you only have a limited number of interceptors.' Gatopoulos said Iran has hypersonic missiles, a direct reaction to evolving and maturing ballistic missile defences. This is because one way to evade an air defence system is to use missiles that fly faster, giving the air defence system less time to react. Miron said hypersonic missiles are difficult for air defence systems to intercept even if they are detected by radar. Some hypersonic missiles are also equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), a warhead attached to a missile that can manoeuvre and glide at speeds five times faster than the speed of sound. In Iran, the Fattah-2 uses the HGV. 'It looks like a normal missile with a craft attached to the end of it,' Gatopoulos said. He explained that besides travelling faster, HGVs also zigzag and do not move on a predictive path like regular ballistic missiles. Such quick, erratic movements evade air defence systems, which are designed to predict the path a missile will take. Cruise missiles can also change their trajectory and become difficult to intercept, Miron said. Iran has cruise missiles in its arsenal, such as the Hoveyzeh missile, and has used such missiles against Israel. While these missiles are slower than ballistic missiles, they fly like pilotless planes, low and steady, sneaking past air defences. Another way air defence systems can be tested is by overloading their systems by tricking them with decoys of drones and missiles, Miron added. 'It shows up as a threat on the radar, but in actuality, it's not. And usually such decoys are used … to empty the interceptor missile reserve so that the actual missiles and drones can get through.' Miron added that some missiles are also equipped with radar suppression technologies that make them undetectable for air defence systems. Gatopoulos explained that the conflict between Iran and Israel is 'attritional' at the moment. On Monday, Israel claimed dominance over Iranian skies. However, the shortest distance between Iran and Israel is 1,000km (620 miles). 'It is a long way for Israeli planes to go unfuelled,' Gatopoulos said. 'You can loiter there, but only up to a certain amount of time,' he added. He explained that while the US could possibly help Israel with air-to-air refuelling, adding external tanks on planes makes them lose stealth properties. Gatopoulos added that this raises questions of how many missiles Iran has to continue the conflict of attrition as Israeli planes patrol and try to destroy any mobile launchers and how many interceptors, Arrow-2 and -3 especially, Israel has that it can keep firing.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Growing number' of Britons view Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide: Poll
London, United Kingdom – Most Britons who oppose Israel's war on Gaza believe the onslaught, which has to date killed more than 55,000 people, amounts to genocide, according to a new poll. The survey, carried out by YouGov and commissioned by the Action for Humanity charity and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) advocacy group, found that 55 percent of Britons are against Israel's aggression. A significant number of those opponents – 82 percent – said Israel's actions amount to genocide. 'This translates to 45 percent of adults in the UK who view Israel's actions as genocidal,' said Action for Humanity and ICJP. Details of the poll, which 2,010 people responded to in early June, were released on Wednesday. Sixty-five percent said the UK should enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit Britain. 'It is clear that a majority of the public here are disgusted with Israel's conduct, and a growing number agree that this is clearly a genocide,' said Othman Moqbel, head of Action for Humanity. He added that all but a few believe the UK should do 'everything in its power to stop Israel and seek justice against those responsible'. 'The government's failure to recognise the scale of the crimes being inflicted upon Gaza is not just putting them on the wrong side of history, it's putting them on the wrong side of the present day.' Tens of thousands of Britons have taken to the streets over the past 20 months to protest against Israel's war on Gaza. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has in recent weeks adopted harsher tones on Israel and sanctioned top officials. In 2024, the UK suspended 30 arms export licences to Israel for use in Gaza amid concerns Israel was violating international humanitarian laws. But critics have lamented the pace and power of the UK's response, calling for tougher sanctions and measures that would prevent Israel from receiving F-35 components made in Britain. The survey also highlighted the positions of Britons who voted for the Labour Party in the 2024 general election. Of the 68 percent of Labour voters who are against Israel's actions in Gaza, 87 percent believe they amount to genocide. Seventy-eight percent of Labour voters said the UK should enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu. The UK has suggested it would comply with the ICC warrant. 'The UK government is totally out of touch with the British public they are supposed to represent, and the Labour Party are even more out of touch with their own voters,' said Jonathan Purcell of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians. 'UK policymaking should be based on complying with international law obligations, regardless, but this poll just goes to show the level of popular support for such policies too. There is absolutely no appetite to drag our national reputation through the mud by continuing to stand with a rogue, pariah state.'
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
What's the impact of the Israel-Iran conflict on oil prices?
As the Israel-Iran conflict escalates, every missile launched could reverberate through the global economy. At risk is 20 percent of the world's oil, which flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Vital trade routes, the shipping industry, travel and tourism face threats too. Oil prices had soared to $76.45 a barrel. If they continue to go up, it would push up the cost of living all over the world. Iran's economy is reeling under Western sanctions. But as Israel presses to choke it even further and with its war on Gaza continuing, its own economy is under extreme stress too.
