IRAN launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its allies that leaves the Middle East on the brink of a region wide war.

Iran said that the barrage was in retaliation for a series of devastating blows Israel has landed in recent weeks against the resistance group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel since the war on the Palestinians in Gaza commenced last October.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel launched what it claimed was a limited ground incursion in southern Lebanon. Many observers have described the operation as an invasion of Lebanon by the Israelis.

Israelis scrambled for bomb shelters as air raid sirens sounded and the orange glow of missiles streaked across the night sky.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari claimed that the country’s air defences intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles. Videos posted online showed Iranian missiles hitting targets in central and southern Israel.

Moments before Iran launched its missiles, a shooting attack in Tel Aviv left at least six people dead, police said, saying that the two suspects who had opened fire on a boulevard in the Jaffa neighbourhood had also been killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late on Tuesday to retaliate against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.”

Iran’s armed forces joint chief of staff General Mohammad Bagheri warned that Iran would respond to action against its territory with strikes on Israel’s entire infrastructure with “multiplied intensity.”

Israeli air strikes and artillery fire on southern Lebanese villages on Tuesday, was met by a barrage of rockets into Israel from Hezbollah.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. 

United States President Joe Biden said that his administration is “fully supportive” of Israel and that he’s in “active discussion” with aides about what the appropriate response should be to Tehran.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Iran’s missile attack a “significant escalation,” although he said it was ultimately “defeated and ineffective," in part because of assistance from the US military in shooting down some of the inbound missiles. 

Meanwhile, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres was told by the Israelis yesterday that he was barred from entering Israel.

Israel’s Foreign Minister issued a statement calling Mr Guterres “anti-Israel” and accused him of lending “support to terrorists.”