U.S. helps Israel shoot down missiles, drones from brazen Iranian attack

The United States helped Israel shoot down most of the hundreds of missiles and drones launched in a brazen attack by Iran that moved the volatile Mideast closer to a larger regional conflict. 

President Joe Biden declared late Saturday night that the United States would stand by Israel as he summoned G7 allies to an emergency meeting to discuss next steps against Tehran after a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week,” Biden said in a statement.

”Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” he said.

Iran on Saturday launched the air strike against Israel, sending the drones and missiles towards Jerusalem and elsewhere in retaliation for Israel's recent, deadly air strike on an Iranian consulate in the capital city of Damascus. 

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday evening that most of the drones and missiles were intercepted, with minor damage to an IDF base.

He also said warplanes intercepted over 10 cruise missiles alone, outside Israeli airspace.

Israel's emergency service says 10-year-old girl severely injured by interceptor shrapnel in the attack, reports CNN. 

The cable news network, which has a reporting crew in Israel, says  the Iran mission has told the Untied Nations the attack retaliates for Israel's attack on Iranian consulate and "can be deemed concluded."

A senior U.S. official told ABC News that as many as 500 drones and missiles were launched with bulk of them will be coming from Iran, but others coming from Iraq, Syria, southern Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. 

Biden left his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., amid early reports of the attack.

Booms and air raid sirens sounded were heard across Israel in the unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a region-wide war.

The attack marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to the Associated Press.

UN leaders and others were swift to condemn the strike, with France saying Iran “is risking a potential military escalation,” the wire service also reports.