Israel fired two waves of missiles on military targets across Iran early on Saturday in a long-awaited retaliation attack.
A barrage of airstrikes hit targets in Tehran, Isfahan, home to a military base, a missile production and several nuclear sites, and Mashhad, where an Iranian airfield is located. The IDF said its forces had been “fully mobilised”.
The “100-jet strong strike” from Israel came in response to Iran launching its own barrage of 181 ballistic missiles at Israeli cities some 26 days ago. A second wave of Israeli missiles came an hour after the first strike.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF, said: “In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the state of Israel, the Israel Defence is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran.”
“Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and their duty to respond.
“Our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilised.
“We will do whatever is necessary to defend the state of Israel and the people of Israel.”
It was unclear the precise extent of the damage but Israel appears to have refrained from hitting nuclear targets or civilian energy infrastructure – both considered high risk.
Iran’s national air defence headquarters confirmed that Israeli forces struck military facilities across three provinces while claiming their air defences largely repelled the attack in an early sign the regime may be prepared to de-escalate.
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Iran’s Fars news agency, which has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that several military bases near Tehran had been targeted.
Other Iranian media sites reported that the explosions were near or at Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Residents flooded onto the streets to witness the strikes, it was reported from local sources.
US officials described the retaliatory attacks as “targeted military strikes against military targets in Iran”.
Observers said the strikes had likely hit between two or three targets linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran, suggesting the retaliation had been less extensive than previously touted.
Analysts suggested this could offer Iran and Israel a way to end the latest round of confrontation. However, fears remain high within the West that the Middle East could escalate into an all-out war.
Prominent Iranian journalist, Maryam Naraghi, reported she had heard explosions in the eastern part of the capital, where a number of military sites are located.
Another Iranian journalist, Reza Rashidpour, said there had been at least five explosions in Tehran within the space of 10 seconds.
Iranian fighter jets were scrambled almost immediately from the Western part of the city, he added.
Airspace over the Islamic Republic was closed after the initial strikes.
It is rare for Israel to have publicly claimed credit for the strikes so soon after they were launched. Israel did not claim immediate responsibility for its retaliation to a similar round of direct attacks in April.
This time however, Israeli officials released images of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant and military officials sitting around a table at the IDF’s underground headquarters as the attacks unfolded.
The image was heavily redacted to blur out the contents of the table the ministers and officials were sitting around:
The White House was notified of Israel’s plans hours before the attacks started, US officials said, suggesting defence officials may believe the attack will not trigger another major escalation.
Washington has previously complained about being kept in the dark about planned Israeli attacks on its enemies.
“We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defence and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel,” Sean Savett, a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council, said.
The US had been pressing Israel to avoid attacking Iran’s nuclear and oil facilities amid fears such bombardments would trigger an escalation from Tehran.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, was in Israel earlier this week to urge restraint from Mr Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials.
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