Israel again raised concerns that the long-running conflict between the two strong armies may turn into a full-scale regional conflict that attracts the United States when it said on Saturday that it had hit military targets inside Iran in retaliation for previous Iranian assaults.
The Israeli military claimed to have struck Iranian missile production facilities and air defence systems in what seemed to be a well-thought-out reaction that steered clear of vital energy infrastructure, including nuclear and oil fields.
Iran seemed to minimize the attack’s impact, asserting that the damage was “limited” and that its air defences had successfully repelled the raids in Tehran, Ilam, and Khuzestan.
Without providing a specific location for the casualties, the Iranian army reported on Saturday morning that two troops had been killed in the attacks. In a statement released on state media, the Iranian military said that the troops had perished “confronting the projectiles of the criminal Zionist entity,” a reference to Israel.
In contrast, the United States characterized the operation as “an exercise in self-defense” that “specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets.”
Israel had threatened to hold Iran accountable for its massive October 1 missile strike, in which some 200 missiles were fired at Israel, causing civilians throughout the nation to seek refuge in bomb shelters. Israeli authorities have discussed the type and extent of such a response for weeks.
Israel launched direct airstrikes against Iran in the early hours of Saturday local time, claiming to have carried out “precise strikes on military targets.”
In the last year, Iran has fired missiles toward Israel, and the Israeli military claimed that its air force had hit “missile manufacturing facilities” that produced those missiles.
To limit Israel’s aerial freedom of action in Iran, the Israeli military reportedly hit “surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities.” It is unknown if the missiles fired by Iranian proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi rebels in Yemen were also manufactured at those sites.
Although Iran eventually acknowledged the attack, it claimed that the attacks had inflicted “limited damage” in some regions. Meanwhile, official television aired pictures of the peaceful streets of Tehran, the country’s capital.
Strikes on “military centers in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam” were “successfully intercepted,” according to Iran’s official news agency.
The state news agency reported hearing multiple explosions west of Tehran at about 2:15 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Friday). According to Iranian officials, the deployment of air defence systems was the cause of the explosions heard throughout the nation.
