Israel carries out retaliatory military attacks in Iran

The Israeli military responded to Iranian missile attack carrying out “precision attacks on military targets” in Iran on Friday, appearing to push the Middle East into a new, more dangerous and multi-front phase of conflict a year after Hamas’ victory October 7 attacks on Israel.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7 – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and obligation to respond.”

Israel said its “defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized.”

“We will do whatever is necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

In Washington, a senior administration official said the United States had advance notice of the Israeli attacks but did not take part in the military operation.

“We understand that Israel is conducting targeted attacks on military targets in Iran as a matter of self-defense and in response to the Iranian missile attack on Israel on October 1,” said Sean Savett, spokesman for the National Security Council.

He directed other questions to the Israeli government.

The scope of the attack was not immediately clear. Iranian state television reported that several strong explosions were heard near the capital Tehran. Semi-official Iranian media reported that explosions were also heard in the nearby city of Karaj.

Tasnim news agency reported that “there are no reports of missile or plane sounds in Tehran’s skies so far.”

State television quoted anonymous Iranian intelligence officials as saying that the cause of the loud explosions “could have been the activation of Iran’s air defense system.”

Israel’s operation came after Iran fired about 180 rockets at Israel on October 1, in what Tehran described as retaliation for Israel’s killing Hassan Nasrallah and other top Hezbollah leaders based in Lebanon. Most of the Iranian missiles were intercepted with the help of the US military. A Palestinian was killed in the West Bank.

For decades, all-out war has been looming between Israel and Iran’s greatest enemies.

But the two regional powers became embroiled in an escalation spiral after Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel last year, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251. Israel responded by launching a war in the Gaza Strip that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated up to Gaza and triggered an increase in military actions against Israel by groups that Iran trains, finances and supplies weapons to promote its interests.

These groups, sometimes referred to as Iran’s “axis of resistance,” include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Houthi rebels in Yemen and various militias based in Iraq. Their common interests with Iran include opposition to the state of Israel and the desire to drive Western powers, mainly American troops, out of the Middle East.

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Iran launched firing of over 300 rockets and drones in Israel in April. Along with the US and Western allies, Israel shot down almost all of them. In the summer, the political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh was murdered by a bomb hidden in the wall of a government guesthouse in Tehran. Israel is believed to be behind the attack.

Yahya Sinwarthe elusive Hamas leader believed to be the group’s founder brutal attack last year on Israel, was killed last week during the Israeli military operation in Gaza. His body was found in the ruins of the building. DNA tests confirmed his identity.

In recent days, Israel launched what it called a “limited” ground operation in Lebanon aimed at destroying Hezbollah’s weapons and infrastructure. Israel’s new attacks on Iran mean that it is effectively fighting a multi-front war against a network of non-state and state actors spread across four countries: Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

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President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military to help Israel defend itself, a move some national security experts say risks drawing the United States into a war in the Middle East.

Rosemary Kelanic, director of Middle East affairs at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank advocating for a smaller global U.S. military reach, said the recent increase in the number of U.S. troops in the region “has only encouraged Israel to act on the brink and increased the risk of war with Iran, which does not serve U.S. interests.”

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Kelanic said that “while the last 20 years of failed politics have taught us nothing different, conflict in the Middle East is quicksand. The more the United States fights it, the deeper we are drawn into it.”

Contributor: Reuters