Israel targeted military sites in long-awaited counterstrike on Iran; Tehran says damage was limited
Israel accomplished its long-awaited retaliatory strikes on Iran with a collection of pre-dawn airstrikes Saturday that targeted military sites in Iran. Israel had vowed payback for Iran’s Oct. 1 assault, throughout which the Islamic republic launched about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.
In a press release, Israel Protection Forces mentioned that “in response to months of continuous attacks” from Iran, it carried out “precise strikes on military targets in Iran.”
A supply instructed CBS Information the Israeli assault was limited to military targets, and never nuclear or oil installations. And in a video posted later Saturday morning, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed that the IDF had “concluded the Israeli response to Iran’s attacks against Israel.”
“Iran attacked Israel twice, including in locations that endangered civilians, and has paid the price for it,” Hagari mentioned. “We are focused on our war objectives in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. It is Iran that continues to push for a wider regional escalation.”
Explosions have been heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, although the Islamic republic insisted the strikes brought on solely “limited damage” and Iranian state-run media downplayed the assaults.
In a rigorously worded assertion on Saturday, Iran’s military appeared to counsel {that a} cease-fire “to prevent the killing of the helpless and oppressed people” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon trumps any retaliation towards Israel.
Whereas nonetheless saying it held the precise to retaliate, the assertion from Iran’s military suggests Tehran could also be looking for an off-ramp to additional escalation in the struggle after Israel’s assault early Saturday morning.
It added that Israel used so-called “stand-off” missiles over Iraqi airspace to launch its assaults and that the warheads have been a lot lighter in order to journey the gap to the targets they struck in three provinces in Iran.
The assertion added that Iranian military radar sites had been broken, however some already have been underneath restore.
Iran’s military mentioned 4 of its troops have been killed in the assault they usually all served in the nation’s military air protection.
Workplace of the Israeli Minister of Protection
Following the strikes, Iran’s International Ministry issued a press release saying it had the precise to self-defense, and “considers itself entitled and obligated to defend against foreign acts of aggression.”
Calling the Israeli assault a violation of worldwide legislation, the ministry additionally mentioned that Tehran “recognizes its responsibilities towards regional peace and security.”
The strikes will not be disrupting the deliberate talks between CIA Director William Burns, the pinnacle of Mossad, David Barnea, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha on Sunday.
U.S. knowledgeable forward of strikes
The U.S. was given a complicated warning of the assaults, two sources instructed CBS Information.
Sean Savett, spokesperson for the White Home Nationwide Safety Council, instructed CBS Information in a press release that “as the Israelis have stated, their response was an exercise in self-defense and specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets, contrary to Iran’s attack against Israel that targeted Israel’s most populous city.”
The U.S. didn’t take part in the operation, Savett added.
President Biden instructed reporters on Saturday Israel gave him a heads-up earlier than the strikes and mentioned it regarded like “they didn’t hit anything but military targets.” He mentioned he had simply completed a name with intelligence officers.
“I hope this is the end,” he mentioned.
Two protection officers confirmed to CBS Information that U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant Friday evening.
“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7th – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” the IDF mentioned in its assertion. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”
Only a few of Iran’s missiles made it previous Israel’s superior missile protection programs, and there have been no casualties from the Oct. 1 assault, however Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to make Iran “pay for it.”
“The regime of Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves,” the Israeli chief mentioned in a press release shortly after the Iranian assault on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New 12 months. “They will understand.”
Mr. Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have each mentioned Israel had the precise to defend itself and reply to the Iranian assault. Nonetheless, Mr. Biden was clear that he wouldn’t assist an Israeli assault focusing on Iran’s nuclear services or main oil infrastructure.
In anticipation of the Israeli response — and any potential Iranian counter-response — the U.S. despatched Israel a brand new missile protection system in mid-October. Austin mentioned on Oct. 21 that the Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection (THAAD) system had arrived in Israel, together with about 100 American troops.
Iran defended its missile assault on Israel as a “legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime — which involved targeting Iranian nationals and interests and infringing upon the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
U.S. officers instructed CBS Information earlier than the Iranian assault that Tehran had been able to strike Israel on brief discover since early August when Iran first threatened to retaliate for the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel has killed a number of senior Iranian and Iran-backed military and paramilitary commanders in strikes throughout the area, though it didn’t publicly declare duty for Haniyeh’s dying.
An Iranian diplomatic supply instructed CBS Information instantly after the Oct. 1 missile assault that Iran’s management had been “under heavy pressure to take action” amid escalating Israeli assaults on Iran’s shut ally Hezbollah, which relies in Lebanon and has lengthy been designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and plenty of different international locations.
Israel has mounted a blistering offensive towards Hezbollah — by far essentially the most highly effective of Iran’s so-called proxy teams in the area — since mid-September, killing a lot of its senior leaders and bombing its strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs and throughout the south of Lebanon, close to the Israeli border.
The Israel Protection Forces have additionally carried out floor operations in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese public well being ministry says Israel’s operations in the nation since September have killed about 1,500 individuals and displaced some 1.2 million from their houses.
The IDF mentioned it had been pressured to launch its assault on Hezbollah in response to the group’s year-long barrage of rocket and drone fireplace focusing on northern and central Israel. Hezbollah has vowed to proceed these assaults on Israel till the struggle with its fellow Iranian benefactor Hamas in Gaza involves an finish.
Eleanor Watson and
Margaret Brennan
contributed to this report.
Disaster in the Center East
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