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Key points about Israel’s retaliatory air strikes on Iran

Israel said Saturday that it had launched strikes against Iran in retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage and attacks on Israel by Tehran-backed militant groups over the past year.

Here’s what we know:

What happened?

Israel said it was carrying out “precise strikes on military targets in Iran”. Numerous explosions were heard around the Iranian capital Tehran, AFP journalists said.

The Iranian army said two soldiers were killed by the strikes in a statement carried by state television.

The Israeli military said it had struck Iran’s missile manufacturing facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays.

Iran suspended all flights while the attack was under way, the aviation authority announced.

Iranian media said no fire or explosions had been reported at a main oil refinery near the capital.

Iran had in recent weeks warned that any attack on its “infrastructure” would provoke an “even stronger response”.

According to an October 14 report in the Washington Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told US President Joe Biden that he intended to strike Iran’s military sites, and not to target nuclear or oil infrastructure.

US officials said that targets did not include energy infrastructure or Iran’s nuclear facilities.

However, FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Tehran, Saeed Azimi, said air defences were activated near a sensitive nuclear site in Iran.

Syrian state news agency SANA said Israel had also carried out strikes on targets in central and southern Syria.

Iran and Syria are allies in the so-called “axis of resistance” that also includes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Why did Israel attack?

The Israeli military said it had launched the strikes “in response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel”.

“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,” it said.

Israel had vowed revenge against Tehran for its October 1 missile attack on Israel.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had said Israel’s retaliation would be “deadly, precise and surprising”.

Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Tehran-backed leaders belonging to Hamas and Hezbollah, and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general.

It was Tehran’s second-ever direct assault on Israeli territory, following an April attack in retaliation for a deadly strike on Iran’s consular annex in Damascus.

Israel has been fighting Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The Lebanon-based Hezbollah group, also backed by Tehran, has fired missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas since the Hamas attack which triggered Israel’s massive military assault in Gaza.

US reaction?

Washington said it was informed of the Israeli strikes beforehand but there was no US involvement.

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said the “targeted strikes on military targets” were “an exercise of self-defence”.

The strikes came days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel to avoid further escalation with Iran as Washington tried to limit the regional fallout from the Gaza war.

“It’s also very important that Israel respond in ways that do not create greater escalation,” Blinken said Wednesday on his 11th visit to the region since the start of the war.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)