Israel launches retaliatory military strikes on Iran

The Israeli army responded to a Iranian missile attack by carrying out “precise strikes against military targets” in Iran on Friday, a move that appeared to push the Middle East into a more dangerous, multi-front phase of conflict, a year after Hamas October 7 attacks about the Jewish State.

“The Iranian regime and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7 – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. “Like any other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”

Israel said its “defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized.”

“We will do whatever is necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel,” the Israeli military said in its statement.

In Washington, a senior administration official said the United States was notified in advance of the Israeli strikes but did not participate in the military operation.

“We understand that Israel is carrying out targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as a self-defense exercise and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel on October 1,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said.

He referred other questions to the Israeli government.

The White House said the president joe biden He has been briefed by his national security team on Israel’s military operations and is closely following the latest developments.

The extent of Israel’s attack was not immediately clear. Iranian state television said several loud explosions were heard around the capital, Tehran. Semi-official Iranian media said explosions were also heard in the nearby city of Karaj.

The Tasnim news agency stated that “nothing has been reported so far about the sound of rockets or planes in the sky over Tehran.”

State television quoted unnamed Iranian intelligence officials as saying the source of the loud explosions “could be the activation of Iran’s air defense system.”

Israel’s operation came after Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel on October 1 in what Tehran described as retaliation for Israel’s assassination. Hassan Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah leaders based in Lebanon. Most of the Iranian missiles were intercepted with the help of the US military. A Palestinian was killed in the West Bank.

For decades, an all-out war has been threatened between archenemies Israel and Iran.

But the two regional powers have been caught in a spiral of escalation after Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel last year, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251. Israel responded by launching a war in the Gaza Strip that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, devastated Gaza, and prompted increased military action against Israel by groups that Iran trains, finances, and arms to advance its interests.

These groups, sometimes called Iran’s “resistance axis,” include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and various militias based in Iraq. Among its shared interests with Iran are opposition to the State of Israel and a desire to expel Western powers, primarily American troops, from the Middle East.

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Iran launched a bombardment of more than 300 missiles and drones in Israel in April. With the United States and its Western allies, Israel shot down almost all of them. Over the summer, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh He was killed by a bomb hidden in the wall of a government guesthouse in Tehran. Israel is believed to be behind the assassination.

Yahya Sinwarthe elusive Hamas leader considered the mastermind behind the group brutal attack against Israel last year, died last week during an Israeli military operation in Gaza. His body was found in the rubble of a building. DNA tests confirmed his identity.

In recent days, Israel launched what it characterized as a “limited” ground operation inside Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah’s weapons and infrastructure. Israel’s new attacks on Iran mean it is effectively waging a multi-front war against a network of state and non-state actors spread across four countries: Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

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Biden has ordered the US military to assist Israel in its defense, a move that some national security experts believe risks drawing the United States into war in the Middle East.

Rosemary Kelanic, Middle East director at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank that advocates for a smaller U.S. military presence in the world, said the recent sending of more U.S. troops to the region “has only encouraged Israel’s brinkmanship.” and increased the risk of a war with Iran that serves no American interest.”

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Kelanic said that “if the last 20 years of failed policies have taught us nothing else, the conflict in the Middle East is quicksand. The more the United States fights against it, the more involved we become.”

Contributing: Reuters