Israel Strikes Targets Across Iran, Expanding Their Conflict

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(Bloomberg) — Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on military targets across Iran early Saturday, fulfilling a pledge by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respond to a missile barrage three weeks ago, raising fears of open conflict between the two longtime rivals.

The Israeli army said that it “conducted precise and directed strikes against military targets.” She said that fighter jets bombed facilities that manufactured missiles used over the past year against Israel, in addition to surface-to-air missiles. Several explosions were reported around Tehran, and Israel’s Channel 12 reported more strikes in the city of Shiraz. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

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The selection of targets indicates that Netanyahu refrained from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and energy infrastructure, as US President Joe Biden urged. A US official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States worked with Israel to come up with a “proportionate” response and urged Iran not to respond again.

During the raids, the IDF said it acted “in response to months of ongoing attacks launched by the regime in Iran against the State of Israel” and that Israel had the “right and duty” to respond.

The Israeli statement on Saturday’s strikes was unusual as an explicit acknowledgment of action against Iran. Israel is suspected of carrying out several assassinations against Iran in recent years, in addition to one strike after a previous Iranian attack in April that was in response to a raid on Iranian generals in Syria. But it did not claim direct responsibility for those attacks.

The early morning strikes fulfilled Netanyahu’s promise to respond after Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1. The Islamic Republic said the attack was retaliation after days of military and intelligence operations that resulted in the killing of members of the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, which is Tehran’s most important proxy group and which the United States considers a terrorist organization.

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The mutual strikes raised fears of a direct and open conflict between Israel and Iran. The United States and its allies have said for weeks that Israel has the right to defend itself, but they worked behind the scenes to prevent Israel from launching an attack that would lead to a broader war.

Israeli attacks early Saturday targeted military sites in Tehran province as well as in Khuzestan and Ilam near the Iraqi border, causing “limited damage,” Iranian state television reported, citing a statement from Iran’s air defense headquarters.

The statement condemned the attacks, describing them as a “provocative act,” and said that Iranian defense systems successfully intercepted the strikes.

In the United States, National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt said: “Our goal is to accelerate diplomatic efforts and calm tensions in the Middle East region. We urge Iran to stop its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting ends without further escalation.”

The American official who spoke to reporters said that the Israeli attack should mark the end of direct military exchanges.

The latest attack occurred a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Middle East, where he made a renewed US push for a ceasefire in Gaza and sought to exert new influence on Israel to moderate its response to Iran. The Biden administration was concerned that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be an unacceptable escalation and that attacking the country’s oil infrastructure would disrupt global energy markets.

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Biden was briefed on the airstrikes on Saturday morning and was monitoring the developments. The Israeli government informed the United States of its plans in advance, according to a person familiar with the matter. Another official said the US military was not involved.

Israel launches precision strike on Iranian military targets: TOPLive

Last month, Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike on Beirut. This came after days of violent bombardment that led to the killing of a number of the organization’s leaders. In the weeks that followed, Israel continued its campaign against Hezbollah despite Western allies urging a ceasefire. It also killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Iranian-backed Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 people, kidnapping about 250 others, and sparking a war with Israel. The ensuing fighting killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Hamas-run territory, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The question now is whether Iran will feel forced to respond again to Israel, which would drag the two countries into further conflict.

Emily Harding, a former Middle East analyst at the CIA and now director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the nature of the Israeli response indicates that Iran “could carry out a limited retaliatory strike, and perhaps they could describe it as finished in this round.” . Washington.

-With assistance from Courtney McBride, Natalia Drozdiak, Ethan Bruner, and Akayla Gardner.

(Updates to the Israeli statement about the nature of the attack and the US official’s comment, starting in the second paragraph.)

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