Israel on Friday launched a wave of retaliatory airstrikes towards Iran after the Islamic Republic fired a barrage of missiles towards Israelis earlier this month.
Explosions had been heard close to Iran’s capital of Tehran and close by Karaj, Reuters reported, citing native media.
“In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel – right now the Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran,” the Israel Protection Forces mentioned in a press release. “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. Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond. Our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized. We will do whatever necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel.”
The Israeli army motion comes after Protection Minister Yoav Gallant vowed a “precise and deadly” response to the greater than 180 missiles Iran focused Israel with on Oct. 1, a few of which had been intercepted with the assistance of the U.S.
ISRAEL’S UN AMBASSADOR: RESPONSE TO IRAN WILL BE ‘VERY PAINFUL’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Protection Minister Yoav Gallant throughout a press convention in Tel Aviv, Israel, in October 2023. (Reuters/Pool)
Final week, through the leadup to the Israeli assault, experiences emerged that the Israeli Protection Forces introduced a listing of potential targets to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gallant as officers carried out “sensitive coordination” with different international locations within the Center East.
“The regime is vulnerable, and it’s up to us to decide which message we want to send to them,” Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon additionally informed Fox Information Digital. “It will be very painful for the Iranian regime, and they will think twice in the future whether to attack Israel or not.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps mentioned the barrage of missiles it fired at Israel on Oct. 1 was in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, in an Israeli airstrike and the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. Israel later eradicated Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in a army operation within the Gaza Strip on Oct. 16.
Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has beforehand referred to as Nasrallah “the flag-bearer of resistance” within the area.
“The blood of the martyr shall not go unavenged,” Khamenei mentioned following Nasrallah’s demise, in response to Reuters.
ISRAEL DECIDES ON POSSIBLE IRAN TARGETS: ‘PRECISE AND DEADLY’
Residents of Jerusalem took shelter during an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1, 2024. (Credit Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)
During the Oct. 1 attack by Iran, no casualties were reported in Israel, though one Palestinian was killed in the West Bank.
The U.S. Navy later released video showing the USS Cole and USS Bulkeley firing about a dozen ballistic missile interceptors to help thwart Iranian aggression.
Iran also attacked Israel in April of this year, during which it levied some 300 missiles and drones. Jerusalem then responded to Western calls for restraint by hitting Iran’s air defenses and destroying a part of an S-300 long-range air protection system.
Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli army forces on Oct. 16. (Photograph by Mohammed Talatene/image alliance by way of Getty Pictures)
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To bolster Israel’s defenses towards potential future assaults from Iran, a U.S. missile protection system is being despatched to the Center East.
Fox Information’ Morgan Phillips, Caitlin McFall, Stephen Sorace and Liz Friden contributed to this report.
