Israel launches attacks on targets in Iran, threatening escalation in wars in the Middle East

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

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

The Israeli military described the attack on Saturday as “precise attacks on military targets in Iran,” without immediately commenting.

“The regime in Iran and its allies in the region have been ruthlessly attacking Israel since October 7 … including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a pre-recorded video statement. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and obligation to respond.”

The sound of explosions could be heard in Tehran, the Iranian capital, with state media initially acknowledging the explosions and saying some sounds came from air defense systems around the city.

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

International flights began diverting to western Iran as news of the strikes broke, flight data showed. But other than a brief reference, Iranian state television provided no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an attempt to downplay the attack.

Meanwhile, Syrian state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, reported early Saturday that “barrage of rockets from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan and Lebanese areas targeted some military sites in the southern and central regions ” of Syria. It said Syrian air defenses shot down a number of missiles. There was no immediate information about casualties.

Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. That first attack killed around 1,200 people. alive and 250 others were taken. hostage back to the seaside enclave.

In the time since, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who make no distinction between civilians and fighters. The UN has said hundreds of thousands of people are trapped with little food or supplies as Israeli forces close in on the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, while food and other aid remain scarce in the enclave. Israeli military operations in the West Bank have since killed hundreds of people.

Israel has also launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and a series of punishing airstrikes that have thrown that country into turmoil.

The strike took place on Saturday as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the US after a tour of the Middle East, where he and other US officials had warned Israel to formulate a response that does not end the conflict in the region. would further escalate and exclude. nuclear sites in Iran.

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that “we understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran” and referred reporters to the Israeli government for more details about their operation.

Two US officials said the US had been informed in advance by Israel of the attacks. They said there was no American involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.

Israel had vowed to hit Iran hard after a… massive Iranian rocket barrage on October 1. Iran said its barrage was in response to the deadly Israeli attacks on his proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and has pledged to respond to any retaliatory attacks.

Israel and Iran have been bitter enemies since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel views Iran as its biggest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program.

Israel and Iran are engaged in a years-long shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear facilities have been hacked or sabotaged, all in 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 evolved into Yemen’s Houthi rebels’ attacks on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

But since the Hamas attack on October 7, the battle has become increasingly public. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has since fired rockets into Israel the war in Gaza started. Throughout the year, a number of top Iranian military personnel have been killed in Israeli attacks in Syria and Lebanon.

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

But after the Iranian missile attack in early October, Israel promised a tougher response.

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks on residential areas in southern Gaza on Friday killed 38 people, including 13 children from the same extended family, Palestinian health officials said.

In northern Gaza, health officials reported that Israeli forces had raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the area. Israel has renewed its policy offensive against Hamas in the north in recent weeks, and that includes aid groups raise the alarm because of the dire humanitarian conditions.

In Lebanon, Israel attacks the southeast of the country three journalists murdered working for news outlets that are believed to be aligned Hezbollah.

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

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