Israel launched airstrikes on what is described as military targets in Iran on Saturday, in response to October 1 ballistic missile attack. However, there has been no immediate information on damage in the Islamic Republic.
The attack long threatened for weeks by Israel, occurs as the Middle East edges closer to regional conflict, more than a year after Israel was attacked by the military group Hamas.
Israel’s military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement that it was carrying out “precise strikes on military targets in Iran”. Further added, “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.”
“Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond”, he said.
Explosions could be heard in Tehran, the Iranian capital. However, state-run media initially reported that the blasts were from the air defence system around the city and attributed some of the sounds to it.
According to the BBC, the extent of the attacks and the precise targets are not known so far.
According to the Associated Press, a Tehran resident said that seven explosions could be heard, that shook the surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, international flights were diverted around western Iran as news of the strikes broke, AP reported citing flight tracking data. However, Iranian state media tried to downplay the attack as it offered no further details, instead it showed what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran.
However, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that “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 Saturday, according to AP. It reported that Syria’s air defence had shot some of the missiles down. There has been no immediate information about casualties.
Iran later reported a second wave of attack, the sound of five new explosions in Tehran reported Anadolu.
According to CNN, tracer fire and explosions illuminated the sky a source told CNN, after the second wave began. These strikes are expected to last “several more hours”, it reported.