The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are reportedly conducting a second wave of airstrikes against military sites in Iran during the early morning hours on Saturday.
A U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that a “second wave” of strikes was happening as Israel’s response to Iran’s ballistic missile barrage earlier this month is unfolding in multiple stages.
A source with direct knowledge of Israel’s operations told ABC News that the strike against Iran was expected to be just a one-night event.
An official with knowledge of Israel’s planning told The Washington Post that the strikes were expected to continue for another several hours and were focused on targeting “military assets, particularly missile manufacturing facilities and aerial defense sites.”
Iran has claimed that it successfully repelled the attack and that the explosions that its citizens have heard and felt were from its defense systems firing at Israeli war planes.
However, there is no proof to validate their claims and Israeli officials have said that there have been no casualties or planes damaged in the strikes.
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The attacks are intended to establish deterrence against further Iranian aggression after the Islamic regime has launched two direct missile attacks against Israel this year, the first time it has ever directly attacked Israel.
The attacks, coming in at least two waves, are considerably more extensive than Israel’s pointed retaliation against Iran for its first direct strike against Israel in April. Israel’s April strike was a show of force that eliminated radar batteries for an anti-missile system, but it didn’t succeed in dissuading Iran from launching more than 180 ballistic missiles against Israel on October 1, prompting Israeli leaders to intensify their latest response plans.
Dalia Dassa Kaye, former director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation, said that the strikes appeared to have offered Iran an offramp instead of forcing the conflict to escalate.
“From what we know now, this is the best case scenario in terms of keeping this round contained, given Israel seems to have limited its strikes to military targets rather than nuclear or oil infrastructure,” Kaye told The Journal. “This gives Iran an exit ramp if it’s looking for one. But we’re still in a different place because Israel and Iran are now in a direct and open conflict.”
Iran claiming that it repelled the attacks and minimizing claims of any damage happening was viewed as a key signal by experts of Iran’s intent to not respond to Israel because it does not wish to invoke an even more intense response.
“If we hear Iranian officials downplaying the success of Israel’s strikes, it could be a signal that they are looking for an excuse to avoid further retaliation,” said Michael Singh, a former senior director for the Middle East at the U.S. National Security Council.
The airstrikes appear to have hit multiple locations throughout Tehran, including the eastern, western, and southern parts of the city, according to The New York Times.
In the east, there are military bases and secretive military sites, and in the west is the headquarters for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the report said.
The Times added that explosions also were happening near Imam Khomeini international airport, which is in the southern part of the city.
The Times said residents also reported hearing explosions in Isfahan, hundreds of miles south of Tehran; Mashhad, hundreds of miles east of Tehran; and Kurdistan Province, a couple hundred miles west of Tehran.
