Israel launches a wave of retaliatory airstrikes against its enemy Iran

Israel attacked Iran on Saturday with a series of pre-dawn airstrikes, saying it was in response to the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired into Israel earlier this month.

The Israeli military said its planes targeted facilities Iran used to fire missiles at Israel, as well as surface-to-air missile sites. There was no immediate indication that oil or missile sites were hit – attacks that would have marked a much more serious escalation – and Israel made no immediate damage assessment.

Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital Tehran, although the Islamic Republic insisted they caused only “limited damage” and Iranian state media played down the attacks.

Still, the attacks threaten to push the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of rising violence in the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran – including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – are already at war with Israel.

“Iran has attacked Israel twice, including in locations that endangered civilians, and has paid the price,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a video statement.

“We are focused on our war objectives in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. It is Iran that continues to push for broader regional escalation.”

The attacks marked the first time the Israeli military has openly attacked Iran, which has not faced a sustained barrage from a foreign enemy since the war with Iraq in the 1980s.

It came as part of Israel’s “duty to respond” to attacks on the country from “Iran and its allies in the region,” Hagari said.

“The Israeli army has fulfilled its mission,” Hagari said. “If the regime in Iran makes the mistake of starting a new round of escalation, we will be obliged to respond.”

Israel has not offered an initial estimate of damage.

Iran’s response

Iranian state media acknowledged the explosions heard in Tehran and said some sounds came from air defense systems around the city.

But other than a brief reference, Iranian state television offered no other details for hours and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an apparent attempt to downplay the attack.

A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions were heard during the first wave of attacks, shaking up the area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

As explosions rang out, people in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire lighting up the sky. Other images showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles being launched.

Iran closed the country’s airspace early Saturday, and flight data analyzed by AP showed commercial airlines had largely left airspace over Iran, and in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The Iranian move to quickly downplay the attack could provide an opportunity not to respond, which could risk further escalation.

American response

The White House indicated that Israel’s strikes on Iran should end the direct exchange of fire between the two hostile countries, while warning Tehran of the “consequences” if it responded.

A senior White House official said the administration believed the Israeli operation should “shut down” direct military exchanges between Israel and Iran, and said other allies agreed.

US President Joe Biden was kept briefed during the Israeli operation, the official said, underscoring that the US was not involved in the attack.

The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under White House ground rules, said the Israeli operation was “extensive, targeted and precise.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about Israeli strikes on military targets in Iran, Major General Pat Ryder said late Friday.

Austin reiterated that the US is committed to the security of its ally and that Israel has the right to defend itself, although Washington was determined to prevent the conflict from spreading, the Pentagon press secretary said in a statement.

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

During their years-long shadow war, a suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian scientists and hacked or sabotaged Iranian nuclear facilities, 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 evolved into Yemen’s Houthi rebels’ attacks on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

Air strikes on Syria

Meanwhile, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported early on Saturday that “barrage of rockets from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan and Lebanese areas had targeted some military sites in the southern and central regions of Syria.

Syrian air defenses are said to have shot down some missiles, with no information immediately available on the casualties.

Iran has been launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

That first attack killed about 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage back to the coastal enclave.

According to local health officials led by Hamas, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the time since.