Newsman: The Israel Defense Forces conducted what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in Iran in response to the barrage of Iranian missiles fired toward Israel earlier this month.
“Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond,” the IDF said in a statement. “Our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized.”
Iran’s Army published a statement saying two military personnel were killed in the Israeli attack on Iran.
“The army of the Islamic Republic of Iran sacrificed two of its soldiers last night while confronting the projectiles of the criminal Zionist regime in order to defend the security of Iran and prevent harm to the nation and the interests of Iran,” the statement read.
Iranian state media said Israel’s attacks did not cause any major damage. Military bases were targeted in the Israeli strikes, Iran state TV said.
“The initial investigations and follow-ups of Fars journalists show that several military bases in the west and southwest of Tehran were the targets” of Israel’s attack, the Fars News Agency said.
A “substantial” part of Israel’s attack on Iran originated from jets outside Iranian airspace, two Israeli officials told ABC News.
Israel’s military said early Saturday it had completed a series of retaliatory airstrikes against Iran in response to an Iranian missile attack.
“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7th – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”
Israel said that based on intelligence, its aircraft hit missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at Israel over the past year and that posed “a direct and immediate threat to the citizens of Israel.”
The IDF also said it struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities that were intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.
“The mission was fulfilled,” the military said.
The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed by his national security team on Israel’s military operations and was closely following the latest developments. Vice President Kamala Harris also was briefed and monitoring the attacks, the White House said.
Iran’s state TV reported several strong explosions were heard around the capital, Tehran. Semi-official Iranian media said explosions were also heard in the nearby city of Karaj.
The Israeli airstrikes also targeted some military sites in Syria’s central and southern parts, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
Syrian air defense forces intercepted missiles launched by Israel “from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese territories” and shot down some of them, SANA added.
Earlier on Saturday, SANA reported explosions in the vicinity of Syria’s capital Damascus.
Israel’s operation came after Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on Oct. 1 in what Tehran described as a retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hassan Nasrallah and other top Lebanon-based Hezbollah leaders. Most of Iran’s missiles were intercepted with help from the U.S. military. A Palestinian man was killed in the West Bank.
Over the summer, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by a bomb hidden in the wall of a government guest house in Tehran. Israel is believed to be behind the assassination.
Yahya Sinwar, the elusive leader of Hamas regarded as the mastermind behind group’s brutal attack on Israel last year, was killed last week during an Israeli military operation in Gaza. His body was found in the rubble of a building. DNA testing confirmed his identity.
In recent weeks Israel launched what it characterized as a “limited” ground operation inside Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure. Israel’s new strikes on Iran mean it is effectively fighting a war on multiple fronts against a web of non-state and state actors spread across four countries: Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
