DUBAI — Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in the month.
Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though the Islamic Republic insisted they caused only “limited damage”. The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — are already at war with Israel.
Saturday marked the first time Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran, which hasn’t faced a sustained barrage of fire from a foreign enemy since its 1980s war with Iraq.
Israel’s hourslong attack ended just before sunrise in Tehran, with the Israeli military saying it targeted “missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year.” It also said it hit surface-to-air missile sites and “additional Iranian aerial capabilities.”
Israel offered no initial damage assessment. Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets, which would be a more severe escalation. “The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7, … including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a prerecorded video statement early Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”
Iran’s military said the strikes targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces and caused “limited damage,” without elaborating. The United States warned against further retaliation, indicating that the overnight strikes should end the direct exchange of fire between the Israel and Iran. Israel’s military said explosions have been heard over northern Israel following its activity in southern Lebanon, but there “is no indication of a security incident”. (Yahoo)…[+]

Photo: Adm. Daniel Hagari announces that the IDF is conducting strikes on military. (AP)