Israel carries out attacks on military targets in Iran, escalating wars in the Middle East

Wafaa Shurafa and Bassem Mroue
| Related press

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Israel carried out airstrikes early Saturday against military targets in Iran in what it described as retaliation for an Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack, officials said. There was no immediate information about damage in the Islamic Republic.

The attack, which Israel has threatened for weeks, comes as the Middle East finds itself on the brink of regional war, more than a year after the militant group Hamas first attacked Israel. Israel has since launched a devastating ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and an invasion of neighboring Lebanon, targeting militants long armed and supported by Tehran.

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

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been mercilessly attacking Israel since October 7… including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” an Israeli military statement said. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and obligation to respond.”

The sounds of explosions could be heard in Tehran, Iran’s capital, and state media there initially confirmed the blast and said some of the sounds came from air defense systems deployed in the city.

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

International flights began diverting toward western Iran as news of the strikes arrived, flight tracking data showed.

Meanwhile, state media in Syria reported that air defenses were also aimed at “hostile targets” there.

In recent months, Iran has carried out two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in connection with the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. This initial attack killed approximately 1,200 people, with 250 killed as hostage back to the coastal enclave.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and militants. Since then, Israeli military operations in the West Bank have claimed hundreds of lives.

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

Saturday’s strike came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was returning to the United States after a tour of the Middle East during which he and other U.S. officials warned Israel to come up with a response that would not further escalate the conflict in the region and would not exclude facilities nuclear weapons in Iran.

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that “we understand that Israel is conducting targeted attacks on military targets in Iran” and directed reporters to the Israeli government for further details about their operations.

Two U.S. officials said Israel notified the United States before the attacks. They said the US was not involved in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation.

Israel vowed to hit Iran hard after massive Iranian missile fire on October 1. Iran said its shelling was in response to deadly Israeli attacks on its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and vowed to respond to any retaliatory attacks.

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

Israel and Iran have been embroiled in a years-long shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iran’s nuclear facilities have been hacked and sabotaged as a result of 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 escalated into attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping along the Red Sea corridor.

However, since the October 7 Hamas attack, the battle has increasingly moved into the open. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets at Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war. During the year, many top Iranian military officials were killed in Israeli attacks in Syria and Lebanon.

Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic mission. Missiles and drones caused minimal damage, and Israel – under pressure from Western countries to show restraint – responded with a limited strike.

However, after Iran’s missile attack in early October, Israel promised a tougher response.

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