PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Israel was attacked on Tuesday with a barrage of nearly 200 missiles from Iran. The Pentagon says the U.S. Navy helped Israel shoot many of them down and that more American troops are deploying to the Middle East.

Israel’s prime minister is vowing payback.

The situation has many Arizona families with relatives in Israel even more on edge, like Amir Glogau. He has three daughters, and his oldest, Shir, lives in Israel. It was also the first topic of the vice presidential debate later in the day.

He says their entire family has been in constant communication throughout the escalation, especially on Tuesday. Shir only had a moment’s notice to scramble into a bomb shelter and wait out the missiles.

“It was definitely scary. And at the time we still didn’t know what was going to happen,” Glogau said.

Glogau described the moment he woke up to the news that Iran launched missiles at Israel.

“It didn’t even feel real to be honest,” he said.

The Israeli military said the country’s air defenses intercepted many of the incoming missiles with help from the U.S. military and nearby naval destroyers, and that casualties were light.

Still, Glogau says this attack was difficult for him to wait out. He says he has an app that tracks where sirens are blaring in the country.

“You start seeing the red dots on the map as the rockets light up, and then you gradually see the whole country light up in red dots where the sirens are activated, urging people to get to the shelters,” he said.

Shir had to wait out the offensive in a shelter.

“It takes the missile to get to Israel about 12 minutes from Iran,” Glogau said. “So you have a few minutes to get your pets, your kids, and you get in the shelter, and you don’t know for how long.”

Iran says it launched the attack in retaliation for Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon and Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah. This escalation is sparking growing fears of an expanding war in the region.

“For me, it’s really a reality check. I think there are parts of the world that, since it is far away, it’s not close to mind or close to heart. We don’t think that it exists. But it exists,” Glogau said.

Glogau says the timing of this attack is difficult, with only days until the one-year mark of the war and the high holy holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

“We still have hostages taken by Hamas. Most of them are alive. And they will be going through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur without their community,” he said.

With the additional deployments to the Middle East, there will be about 43,000 U.S. troops in the region. These forces include fighter jets and attack aircraft squadrons.

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