Tel Aviv has been plunged into one of its darkest nights of the war after Iran fired cluster‑armed missiles at the city, with more than 15 blast sites reported as Israel’s famed air defences struggled to contain the blitz, officials and witnesses say.

Sirens wailed across the Gush Dan metro area just after midnight as radars picked up a salvo of heavy missiles launched from western Iran. Iron Dome and David’s Sling batteries roared to life, interceptors clawing at the sky in rapid succession. But several missiles burst high above the city, scattering hundreds of bomblets that rained down on multiple neighbourhoods.

Residents described Tel Aviv as “on fire” as chains of small explosions ripped through car parks, playgrounds and side streets. Viral videos show burning vehicles, shopfronts blown out and apartment blocks pockmarked by shrapnel. Emergency services say dozens are wounded, many hit while running for shelters or cut by glᴀss in stairwells that were supposed to be safe.

The IDF concedes a “partial failure” to block the attack, admitting that the combination of high‑alтιтude bursts and wide‑area submunitions briefly overwhelmed local interception capacity. Bomb squads are racing to secure unexploded bomblets that now litter courtyards and schoolyards across the city.

Tehran’s Revolutionary Guard is hailing the strike as “a lesson to the Zionist enemy.” Israeli leaders accuse Iran of deliberate terror against civilians and are vowing a mᴀssive retaliation on Iran’s missile infrastructure—while human‑rights groups warn that using cluster weapons over one of the region’s densest cities may mark a new legal and moral low in an already brutal war.