Israel launched airstrikes at military targets in Iran early Saturday in retaliation for Tehran’s ballistic barrage of 200 rockets targeting the Jewish state earlier this month, the Israeli military confirmed.
Multiple explosions were reported near Tehran, Iran’s capital, and the nearby city of Karaj as Israel’s initial strikes appeared to have targeted a weapons depot, along with a barracks or office, senior Arab officials told NBC News.
“It was so loud and the sky became red,” said an Iranian resident in Tehran, who asked not to be named.
Another Tehran resident said she “woke up to a distant sound of blasts” Saturday morning, adding there was a heavy presence of Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the city on Friday, according to CNN.
The Israel Defense Forces fired “precise strikes” on military targets in Iran “in response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement.
“Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond. We will do whatever necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel,” Hagari added.
As missiles flew through the sky in Iran, Netanyahu was reportedly in a bunker in Tel Aviv’s Kirya military base, according to the prime minister’s office.
Israeli officials confirmed the Jewish state is focused on striking military targets, with no plans in place to target any Iranian nuclear facilities or oil fields, NBC News reported.
“We’re targeting things that might have threatened us in the past or could do in the future,” the official said.
The Harris-Biden administration had voiced their opposition to an Israeli strike on Tehran’s nuclear and oil sites, fearing such a move could trigger an all-out war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, around the same time Israel launched its attack on Iran, several military sites in southern and central Syria were hit, leaving Syrian air defenses reportedly intercepting “hostile targets” in the sky near Damascus, according to local media.
Syrian state media, according to the Times of Israel, said the Jewish state was responsible for the attack on its soil. But Israel made no mention of any military action in Syria as of early Saturday.
The White House was notified shortly before Israel carried out the retaliatory strikes on Iran and President Biden has been briefed on the attack, Fox News reported.
Vice President Kamala Harris has also been briefed on the situation, according to NBC News.
“We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett.
The US is not participating in the military operations against Iran and President Biden is currently in Wilmington, Delaware, and doesn’t intend on convening in the Situation Room, according to reports.
Following the early Saturday airstrikes, Iran closed its airspace and the skies over the country, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon were largely devoid of commercial flights, the Associated Press reported.
About four hours after announcing the airstrikes, the Israeli military announced the retaliatory attack had concluded.
“I can now confirm that we have concluded the Israeli response to Iran’s attacks against Israel. We conducted targeted and precise strikes on military targets in Iran — thwarting immediate threats to the State of Israel,” Hagari said in a statement.
The Israel Defense Forces had pledged a “serious and significant” response to Iran’s attack, with Friday night’s strike serving as a rare and open direct assault on the Islamic Republic.
Iran launched dozens of missiles toward Israel on Oct. 1 in direct response to the recent assassinations of Hezbollah founder Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and an Iranian general.
Despite the extent of the attack on Tel Aviv and other Israeli population centers, many missiles were intercepted before they could cause any serious harm.
In the wake of Iran’s ballistic missile barrage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel would respond with its own retaliatory attack.
US officials, who backed Israel’s right to respond to Iran’s attack, said America had been advising the Jewish state on how to prepare a “proportionate” response.
Israel has been at war with the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, and also fending off assaults from the terrorists’ allies such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen and Iran.
With Post wires
This is a developing story.
