From The Times of Israel:
“IDF hits military sites
across Iran in hours-long attack, weeks after Iran’s missile barrage”
(A handout photo released by his
office on October 26, 2024, shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting
with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF commanders in the bunker below the
Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.)
Israel launched a long-awaited
retaliatory strike against Iran early Saturday, almost four weeks after the
Islamic Republic’s massive ballistic missile barrage on the country, with the
military saying the “precise strikes” by the Israeli Air Force targeted
strategic military sites — specifically drone and ballistic missile
manufacturing and launch sites, as well as air defense batteries. Reports of
explosions near Tehran began to emerge around 2:15 a.m. local time, with the
Israel Defense Forces quickly releasing a statement confirming that it was
attacking, in response to “months of continuous attacks from the Iranian regime
against the State of Israel.” The strikes were carried out in several waves
over the course of several hours, in various areas of Iran, with the Islamic
Republic closing its airspace for the duration and seemingly showing little
ability to counter the assault. Strikes were reported in the Tehran, Karaj,
Isfahan and Shiraz areas.
The operation, hitting targets
some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away, marked an unprecedented attack in
terms of its scale, duration and Israel’s immediate acknowledgment of
responsibility. The first wave of attacks apparently targeted Iran’s air
defense capabilities, both to ensure the IDF’s freedom of operations during
Saturday’s sorties, and to lay the ground for further strikes, should Iran
retaliate. As the campaign was underway, Syrian state media reported that
Israel struck several military sites in the south and center of the country,
action possibly taken to enable the IAF to operate more freely in Iran.
The next waves hit drone and
ballistic missile manufacturing sites — those used in direct Iranian attacks on
Israel on April 14 and October 1 — as well as sites used to launch such
weapons. Iran confirmed an Israeli attack had targeted military sites in the
capital Tehran and other parts of the country, but said it had caused “limited
damage” and that air defense systems had successfully countered much of the
attacks — an assertion dismissed in Israel. The Israeli military said at 6 a.m.
that the assault had been completed, with “all goals achieved” and all aircraft
returning safely home. It dubbed the campaign “Days of Repentance,” a reference
to the recent Yom Kippur holiday. It said dozens of IAF aircraft, including
fighter jets, refuelers and spy planes, participated in the “complex” operation
some 1,600 kilometers from Israel. The military said the strikes had given the
IAF “wider freedom of aerial action in Iran,” and that it had a broad bank of
targets that it could hit in the future if required. “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
said. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has
the right and the duty to respond.”
Following the strikes, the IDF
said it was holding an assessment on a potential Iranian response to the
attack, but as of now, there were no changes to guidelines for civilians. The
IDF added that its “defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized,”
and that it “will do whatever necessary to defend the State of Israel and the
people of Israel.” “Iran struck Israel twice… and has paid the price for that,”
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement, referring to Iran’s
direct attacks on Israel in April and earlier this month. “We are focused on
the goals of the war in Gaza and Lebanon. It is Iran that continues to push for
a wide regional escalation. “If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of
beginning a new round of escalation — we will be obligated to respond,” he
continued. “Our message is clear: All those who threaten the State of Israel
and seek to drag the region into a wider escalation will pay a heavy price. We
demonstrated today that we have both the capability and the resolve to act
decisively, and we are prepared — on offense and defense — to defend Israel and
the people of Israel.” Ynet cited an Israeli source with knowledge of the
matter as saying: “The intelligence provided here by the IDF Intelligence
Directorate was science fiction-like, beyond imagination.” He said the highly
precise intel enabled Israel to hit “an irreplaceable factory” behind the
manufacture of surface-to-surface missiles. There was no immediate comment from
Israeli political leaders, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office
released a picture of him huddled with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and top
IDF generals at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv as the operation was launched. It
later said he held a security assessment with Gallant and the heads of the IDF,
Mossad and Shin Bet. The IDF said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi was also
below the Kirya base to command the strikes from the Israeli Air Force’s
command center, with the chief of the IAF, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar.
In a statement, Iranian air
defenses said Israel attacked military targets in the provinces of Tehran,
Khuzestan and Ilam. “The loud blasts heard around Tehran were related to the
activation of the air defense system against the actions of Zionist regime
which attacked three locations outside of Tehran city,” state TV reported,
citing officials of the Tehran province air defense. An unidentified Israeli
source told the Ynet news that the Iranian claim of interception was “a lie. It
was a total failure, [there were] zero interceptions.” According to an Israeli
official quoted by NBC News, Israel did not target Iranian nuclear facilities
or oil fields and focused on military targets. “We’re targeting things that
might have threatened us in the past or could do in the future,” the official
said. The Biden Administration had pressed Israel not to strike nuclear or oil
sites, while backing Israel’s right to respond to Iran’s October 1 ballistic
missile attack. An American official told Reuters that Israel notified the US
ahead of the strikes, stressing the United States was not involved in the
operation. “We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against
military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to
Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1,” said White House
National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett. Iran’s semi-official Fars
news agency reported that several military bases in the Tehran area were
targeted in Israeli strikes. It specified that several bases in the western and
southern areas of the capital were attacked. Sources quoted by the Tasnim news
agency threatened that Iran was prepared to respond to any Israeli
“aggression.” “There is no doubt that Israel will face a proportional reaction
for any action it takes,” Tasnim quoted the sources as saying. Iran had braced
for an Israeli reprisal after its latest direct attack on Israel, in which it
fired 200 ballistic missiles that sent most of Israel to bomb shelters on
October 1, killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank, and caused damage in
residential areas and at military bases — although the IDF said that the attack
had no operational impact.
Netanyahu also blamed “the agents
of Iran” for an attack by a drone fired by Hezbollah last Saturday that smashed
a window and caused additional minor damage at his home in Caesarea. The prime
minister, who was not at home at the time, described the attack as an
assassination attempt and warned that anyone who harmed Israelis would pay “a
heavy price.” Iran said that the October 1 attack came in response to strikes
in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and much of the terror
group’s senior leadership last month, as well as the killing of Hamas politburo
leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July in a blast which has been widely blamed
on Israel despite its silence on the matter.
^ Hopefully now the attacks from Iran
and Hezbollah will stop on Israel. ^
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