Israel launches a series of airstrikes at Iran overnight

Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in the month.

Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though the Islamic Republic insisted they caused only “limited damage.”

The attack risks pushing the arch-enemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiralling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza — are already at war with Israel.

Saturday marked the first time Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran, which hasn’t faced a sustained barrage of fire from a foreign enemy since its 1980s war with Iraq.

Israel offered no initial damage assessment.

Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets, which would be a more severe escalation.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7th, including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a pre-recorded video statement early on Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”

The United States warned against further retaliation, indicating that the overnight strikes should end the direct exchange of fire between the Israel and Iran.

Israel’s military said explosions have been heard over northern Israel following its activity in southern Lebanon, but there “is no indication of a security incident.”

Iran’s state-run media acknowledged blasts that could be heard in Tehran and said some of the sounds came from air defence systems around the city.

But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television for hours offered no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an apparent attempt to downplay the assault.

A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard in the first wave of attacks, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

As explosions sounded, people in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire light up the sky. Other footage showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles being launched.

Iran closed the country’s airspace early on Saturday, and flight-tracking data analysed by AP showed commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran, and across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Iran’s move to quickly downplay the attack may offer an avenue for it not to respond, which could risk a further escalation.

“The Israel Defence Forces has fulfilled its mission,” Hagari said in a later video. “If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond.”

US Reaction

The White House indicated that Israel’s strikes on Iran should end the direct exchange of fire between the two enemy countries, while warning Tehran of “consequences” should it respond.

A senior White House official said the administration believed the Israeli operation should “close out” the direct military exchange between Israel and Iran, and said other allies were in agreement.

United States President Joe Biden was updated throughout Israel’s operation, the official said, while underscoring that the U.S. had no involvement in the attack.

The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said the Israeli operation “was extensive, it was targeted, it was precise.”

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about Israel’s strikes on military targets in Iran, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said late Friday.

Austin reiterated that the U.S. was committed to its ally’s security and that Israel has a right to defend itself, though Washington was determined to prevent the conflict from expanding, the Pentagon press secretary said in a statement.

Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear programme.

During their years-long shadow war, a suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists and 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.

Airstrikes on Syria

Meanwhile, Syrian state news agency SANA 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” of Syria early on Saturday.

It said Syria’s air defences shot some missiles down, with no information immediately available on casualties.

Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that began with the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

That initial attack killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage back to the seaside enclave.

In the time since, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Hamas-led local health officials.