SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Israeli civilians were forced to shelter in place Friday evening as Iran launched a counterattack, hitting parts of Tel Aviv in response to Israel's earlier airstrikes.
Yarden Abed, a Carmel Valley native who recently moved to Israel, experienced the attack firsthand with missiles landing just a mile from his apartment complex.
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"At first it's like business as usual, then all of a sudden you get the messages, bomb hits Tel Aviv. All of a sudden you're worried about your family your friends. There's a chill in the air," Abed said.
"There's buildings that have been destroyed and people who were injured. For me it's very emotional, very sad," he said.
Israel had been expecting retaliation after launching air strikes across multiple Iranian cities. Israeli leaders say their aim is to stop Iran's development of nuclear weapons. The Iranian counterattack set several residential buildings on fire in Tel Aviv.
University of San Diego alumni Rameen Javadian is worried about his family in Tehran.
"My uncle who was suddenly awoken to the sound of explosions, the sight of smoke in the neighborhood where he lives in northern Tehran," Javadian said.
He says Iranians were closely watching the war in Gaza and fear they could soon face the same reality.
"How I feel is not just emotional and worried for our current state of Iranians, but also worried about the state of international affairs from here on. What does this say for civilians across the region?" he said.
Benjamin Radd at UCLA's International Institute says Israel would not have launched the attack without support from the United States.
"Given the breadth, the scope and the scale, that's what makes this incredible, bold, and unprecedented in Middle East history," Radd said.
President Donald Trump posted that his goal is to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran, threatening Iranian leaders to make a deal "before there is nothing left."
"When it's clear the other side is not going to meet him where he's at and it's going to look bad, that's where he removes restraints and allows for the use of force to speak for itself," Radd said.
As politicians make their attempts at regional peace, civilians in both countries brace for the next round of explosions.
