Israel launches strikes on targets in Iran, risks escalation in Middle East wars

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel launched airstrikes early Saturday on what it described as military targets in Iran in retaliation for a ballistic missile assault on Oct. 1, officials said. There were no immediate reports of damage in the Islamic Republic.

The attack, threatened for weeks by Israel, comes as the Middle East teeters on the brink of a regional war more than a year after an initial attack by the militant group Hamas on Israel. Since then, Israel has launched a devastating ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and an invasion of neighboring Lebanon, targeting long-armed militants aided by Tehran.

The Israeli military described Saturday’s attack as “precision strikes on military targets in Iran,” without immediately providing details.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have relentlessly attacked Israel since October 7 … including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a pre-recorded video statement. “Like any other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and duty to respond.”

The sound of explosions was heard in Tehran, the Iranian capital, with state media there initially acknowledging the explosions and saying some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city.

A resident of Tehran told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions were heard, which shook the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

International flights began diverting around western Iran as news of the strikes emerged, flight tracking data showed. But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television gave no further details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an attempt to play down the attack .

Meanwhile, Syrian state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, reported that “rocket barrages from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan and Lebanese territories targeted some military sites in the southern and central regions” of Syria on Saturday morning. Syria’s air defenses were said to have shot down some of the missiles. There was no immediate information on casualties.

Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The initial attack killed around 1,200 people and another 250 people were taken. hostage back in the seaside enclave.

Since then, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who do not draw distinctions between civilians and combatants. The UN said hundreds of thousands of people were trapped with little food or supplies as Israeli forces closed in on the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya, while food and other aid remained scarce in the enclave. Israeli military operations in the West Bank since then have killed hundreds more.

Israel also launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and a series of punitive airstrikes that rocked that country.

Saturday’s strike came just as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives back in the US after a tour of the Middle East, where he and other US officials had warned Israel to offer a response that would not further escalate the conflict from the region and to exclude. nuclear sites in Iran.

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that “it is our understanding 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 had been notified by Israel before the attacks. They said there was no US involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.

Israel has vowed to hit Iran hard following a massive Iranian missile barrage on October 1. Iran said its dam was in response to the deadly Israeli attacks against his proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah and vowed to respond to any retaliatory strikes.

Israel and Iran have been bitter enemies since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Israel views Iran as its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups, and the country’s nuclear program.

Israel and Iran have been locked in a shadow war for years. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iran’s nuclear facilities have been breached 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 turned into attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

But since the October 7 Hamas attack, the battle has moved increasingly to the front. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has since fired rockets into Israel the war in Gaza it started. During the year, a number of top Iranian military figures were killed in Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon.

Iran fired a barrage 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 rockets and drones caused minimal damage, and Israel – under pressure from Western countries to show restraint – responded with a limited strike.

But after Iran’s missile strike in early October, Israel promised a tougher response.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Israeli attacks on residential areas in southern Gaza killed 38 people, including 13 children from the same extended family, Palestinian health officials said.

In northern Gaza, health officials reported that Israeli forces attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in the area. Israel renewed its offensive against Hamas in the north in recent weeks, and aid groups are giving the alarm over dire humanitarian conditions.

In Lebanon, Israeli strikes in the southeast of the country killed three journalists work for news outlets that are considered aligned with Hezbollah.

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Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Lolita C. Baldor, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

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