IRAN HAS SAID that an Israeli attack targeted military sites in the Islamic republic overnight, killing two soldiers, almost a month after Israel vowed to avenge a missile barrage that raised fears of a full-scale Middle East war.
The Israeli military said its “precise” strikes hit Iran’s missile manufacturing facilities, missile installations and other systems in several regions. It warned Iran it would “pay a heavy price” if it responded.
Iran’s air defence forces confirmed an Israeli attack had targeted military sites in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces, causing “limited damage”. The armed forces said later two soldiers were killed in the strikes.
“The army of the Islamic Republic of Iran lost two of its fighters during the night when they faced projectiles from the criminal Zionist regime in defence of its territory,” a statement carried by Iran state television said.
The Israel Defence Force confirmed it had launched airstrikes on military targets in Iran early this morning, officials said.
Two Israeli officials said that IDF airstrikes against Iran were not targeting nuclear or oil facilities.
Israel said its aircraft “struck missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year”.
The military statement said: “These missiles posed a direct and immediate threat to the citizens of the state of Israel.”
In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel—right now the Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 25, 2024
The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking… pic.twitter.com/OcHUy7nQvN
It offered no damage assessment, but added it had “struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.”
Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions around the capital Tehran without immediately elaborating.
An Israeli military statement said that Israel “has the right and the duty to respond.”
“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since 7 October – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” the statement read.
It also did not elaborate on the targets.
Iranian state television later identified some of the blasts as coming from air defence systems, without offering more details.
International flights began diverting around western Iran as news of the strikes broke, flight-tracking data has shown. An advisory to pilots said Iran had closed the country’s airspace.
The country’s Civil Aviation Organisation has confirmed that flights have since resumed.
In Tehran, the Iranian capital, the sound of explosions could be heard, with state-run media saying some of the sounds came from air defence systems around the city.
A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
In Syria, the state news agency SANA citing an unnamed military official, reported “barrages of missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan and Lebanese territories targeted some military sites in the southern and central regions” early on Saturday.
It said that Syria’s air defences had shot some of the missiles down.
There was no immediate information on casualties.
The strike happened just as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was arriving back in the US after a tour of the Middle East, where he and other US officials had warned Israel to tender a response that would not further escalate the conflict in the region and exclude nuclear sites in Iran.
White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that “we understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran” and referred reporters to the Israeli government for more details on their operation.
Two US officials said the US was notified by Israel in advance of the strikes, with the sources both speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.
They said there was no US involvement in the operation.
Israel had vowed to hit Iran hard since the country launched a missile attack targeting Israel on 1 October.
Iran said its barrage was in response to deadly Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and it has promised to respond to any retaliatory strikes.
Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The countries have been locked in a years-long shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.
But since Hamas’ 7 October attack, the battle has increasingly moved into the open. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel since the current conflict in Gaza began.
Hamas’s attack which triggered the current conflict in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 42,847 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Palestinian health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Throughout the year, a number of top Iranian military figures have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon.
Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post.
The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel – under pressure from Western countries to show restraint – responded with a limited strike.
With reporting by Jane Moore and © AFP 2024
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