According to a report by Times of Israel, on Tuesday March 24, 2026, a ballistic missile attack on the Israeli southern city of Arad on Saturday night wounded dozens of people, damaged residential buildings and prompted an immediate Israeli military response that resulted in the killing of the Iranian soldiers reportedly behind the strike, the Israeli Defense Forces confirmed.
The missile struck residential areas of Arad, leaving a visible trail of destruction across multiple homes and structures. At least ten individuals were reported to have sustained serious injuries in the attack, with additional casualties treated for lighter wounds. Emergency services responded rapidly to the scene as authorities worked to assess the full scale of the damage.
Within hours of the strike, Israeli military forces launched an airstrike targeting the cell believed responsible. IDF Spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin formally confirmed Monday that the operation had been successful. “We can now say that yesterday we eliminated the cell that was responsible for the fire toward Arad,” Defrin stated, confirming that Iranian soldiers directly linked to the attack had been killed.
The spokesman further indicated that the Arad response was part of a continuing and deliberate military campaign to dismantle Iranian missile units and the command structures supporting them. “We continue to hunt and eliminate the soldiers and commanders of the missile array,” Defrin said, adding, “We will continue to hunt them down, the launchers and the cells.”
The IDF’s remarks drew attention to Israel’s broader strategy of direct accountability, pursuing not only missile launchers and equipment, but the individual soldiers and commanders it deems responsible for strikes against Israeli territory. The language used by Defrin suggested the military views such operations as ongoing rather than reactive.