It took a moment to understand what we were seeing as streaks of orange crossed the sky above out heads to be met with balls of fire drifting up in the opposite direction.

This was Iran’s missile barrage against Israel, and Israeli air defences fighting back.

Standing close to the Israeli border with Syria, our position appeared to be under the flight path for much of the attack.

Whenever a missile and interceptor impacted there were explosions and sudden flashes.

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But some of the ballistic weapons managed to penetrate the defences and keep flying deeper into Israel.

The missiles were so far up that they were barely audible.

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Sky’s defence and security editor Deborah Haynes charts the rivalry between Israel and Iran.

And they kept on coming, multiple munitions at a time, flying from the direction of Iran.

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The sight of Iran and Israel effectively fighting an air war above our heads sounds like it should be dangerous.

But the action was taking place so far up in the sky that sirens in the surrounding area were not activated.

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, October 1, 2024 REUTERS/Amir Cohen TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Image:
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets. Pic: Reuters/Amir Cohen

After an initial wave of missiles, there was sudden calm until again a fire ball moving up from the ground was spotted – evidence that Israel’s air defences were in action again.

The second wave of missiles seemed smaller.

We watched again as interceptions erupted far up over our head.

Then as suddenly it started, the missile onslaught stopped.

A few minutes later, though, the siren did start wailing to warn of a rocket – rather than a missile – attack. It was fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon, sending my team and I sprinting for the shelter.