TEHRAN -- Iran announced the first-ever launch of its multi-warhead Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile during the twentieth wave of Operation True Promise III in the early hours of Sunday.
In a statement, the public relations department of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the operation marked the debut of the third-generation Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile, successfully striking its intended targets.
The twentieth wave came just hours after the United States claimed to have struck three Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
According to the IRGC, a total of 40 solid- and liquid-fueled missiles were launched at strategic targets across the occupied Palestinian territories on Sunday.
“In this operation, for the first time, the IRGC Aerospace Force deployed the third-generation Kheibar Shekan multi-warhead ballistic missile, employing new and surprising tactics to achieve greater precision, destructive power, and effectiveness,” the statement said.
Main targets included Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, the regime’s biological research center, and alternative command-and-control sites.
The missiles employed maneuverable warheads capable of adjusting their trajectory during descent, maintaining guidance until impact, and delivering multiple high-explosive, highly destructive payloads.
Sirens reportedly went off only after the missiles scored direct hits, plunging the occupied territories into chaos, as witnessed in several previous waves of Operation True Promise III.
“We declare that the core capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have yet to be activated in this sacred defense,” the IRGC statement said.
According to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response service, at least 21 people were wounded in the strikes, four of them seriously.
Iranian missiles made impacts in four sites across Israel: in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Be’er Yaakov and Nes Ziona, it said.
Searches were underway for people believed to be trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in Tel Aviv, local media reported.
Images circulating on both Israeli television and social media platforms showed serious damage to buildings, as well as injured people being rescued by first responders.
The Israeli military said in a statement that during the missile barrage, no alert sirens had gone off in Haifa, despite there having been an impact from a missile there.
“The possibility that there was an issue with the interceptor is being looked into,” the military said, referring to its missile defense systems.  “There was no malfunction in the alert system and a previous warning had been issued to the area.”
First responders fanned out following fresh waves of Iranian missile strikes that left pockets of devastation in their wake, AFP reported. 
In both Haifa and areas around Tel Aviv, the scenes were all too similar, the news agency said.
Rubble filled streets at impact sites as the facades of apartment buildings were eviscerated by the falling projectiles, as rescue teams picked through the debris looking for people.
In the Ramat Aviv neighborhood near Tel Aviv, the mere skeletons of homes were left standing following the barrage, with the wooden frames visible amid a sea of debris.
As the territories were jolted awake by air raid sirens warning residents of air attacks, many in Ramat Aviv left their shelters later to discover the destruction.
Officials were still taking stock of the damage.
“Houses here were hit very, very badly,” Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said at the scene.
The Israeli police said in a statement that they had been deployed to at least two other impact sites, one in Haifa in the north and another in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv.
Two salvos of missiles were launched from around 7:30 am (0430 GMT), the Israeli military said.
Iran has been firing daily missile barrages at Israel for over a week, since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic triggered war.
Even still, at least 50 impacts have been officially acknowledged with the Zionist regime’s air defense batteries unable to prevent many of the strikes.
Iran’s armed forces said Sunday’s barrage targeted multiple sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, and relied on some of their most sophisticated long-range missiles with “devastating warhead power”.
Reporting on missile strikes is subject to strict military censorship rules in Israel, where 25 people have been killed since the war started on June 13, according to official figures.
Iranian armed forces have carried out 20 phases of True Promise III so far, targeting strategic and sensitive military and intelligence sites in the occupied territories.
These operations are in response to the continued Israeli aggression that has claimed the lives of more than 400 Iranians since June 13, including military commanders, scientists, university professors, athletes, school students etc.