The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today over Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel, AFP quotes the body’s president as saying.

The meeting is aiming to be held at 4pm (8pm GMT) on Sunday and is at Israel’s request, a spokesperson for Malta, which holds the rotating presidency this month, told the media.

Israel’s envoy to the UN, in a letter to the Security Council president, called Iran’s air assault a “flagrant violation of Israel’s sovereignty”.

“Today, Iran has launched a direct attack from within its territory of more than 200 (drones), cruise missiles and ballistic missiles towards Israel,” Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan wrote. “The attack is a severe and dangerous escalation.”

Erdan demanded that the Security Council “condemn Iran for these grave violations” and designate its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) — the armed force defending Tehran’s revolutionary government — as a terrorist organisation.