Iran has unleashed one of its heaviest barrages of the war on central Israel, firing ballistic missiles tipped with cluster warheads at the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and briefly overwhelming parts of Israel’s vaunted air‑defence network, military officials say.

Sirens wailed across Tel Aviv, Holon and Rishon LeZion as radar detected dozens of launches from western Iran. Witnesses filmed the sky turning into a grid of smoke trails and mid‑air fireballs as Iron Dome and David’s Sling interceptors rose to meet the incoming threat. But when several missiles burst high above the city, they scattered hundreds of bomblets that rained down over wide areas, igniting cars, rooftops and industrial yards.

Emergency services report dozens of wounded from shrapnel and collapsing structures, along with widespread damage to apartment blocks, shopping streets and sections of major highways. Fire crews battled multiple blazes simultaneously as police struggled to seal off unexploded submunitions that lay scattered in playgrounds and parking lots.

The IDF admits it faced a “complex and challenging engagement,” saying the sheer volume of cluster‑armed missiles briefly stretched interception capacity, even as it insists the majority of warheads were destroyed before reaching their targets. Israeli officials accuse Tehran of “deliberate terror bombardment” and warn that the use of cluster munitions over dense urban areas will be pursued as a war crime.

In Tehran, hard‑line media hails a “saturation strike” that exposed vulnerabilities in Israel’s layered shield. For Israelis watching the smoke still hanging over Gush Dan, the question is stark: was this a one‑off shock—or the new normal in a war where every fresh volley pushes both sides closer to a line no defence system can hold?