Israel and Iran have exchanged direct fire for the first time since a fragile ceasefire paused months of conflict in the region, raising fears that the Middle East could slide back toward full-scale regional war.

Israeli officials said Iran launched a salvo of missiles toward Israeli territory, triggering air-raid sirens across Tel Aviv and other central areas as residents rushed for shelter. The Israeli military reported intercepting many of the incoming projectiles, using air defenses that lit up the night sky.

Tehran released video purporting to show missiles lifting off from central Iran, framing the operation as a calibrated response rather than an all-out assault. Iranian authorities described the strike as a warning, saying it came after Israeli warplanes hit targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area dominated by Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Within hours, Israel announced it had carried out retaliatory airstrikes on central and western Iran. State and semi-official media in Iran reported explosions in and around the cities of Isfahan, Karaj, Tabriz and Tehran, though the full extent of the damage and casualties remained unclear. Both sides have so far offered only partial accounts of the impact, each emphasizing the success of its own defenses and the precision of its attacks.

The exchange unfolded despite appeals from Washington for restraint. US officials had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid an immediate response, warning that tit-for-tat strikes risked igniting a broader confrontation involving multiple regional actors.

Commercial airspace around Iran rapidly emptied as airlines diverted or cancelled flights, underscoring the sense of volatility. Regional governments placed their militaries on heightened alert, wary that miscalculation or further escalation could draw them in.

The latest strikes mark a dangerous escalation in the long-running shadow conflict between Israel and Iran, which has typically played out through proxies, covert operations and cyberattacks rather than open, state-on-state exchanges. Analysts say the move into direct, acknowledged strikes on each other’s territory crosses a threshold that will be difficult to reverse.

Diplomats are now scrambling to contain the crisis, but with both governments publicly vowing to defend themselves and deter future attacks, the risk of further escalation remains high and the region’s uneasy calm appears to be slipping away.