The Israel announced that he conducted today “targeted precision strikes” against him Iranin response to the October 1st Iranian attack, which mainly targeted missile manufacturing facilities.

Tehran, for its part, announced “limited damage”.

These Israeli raids were launched in a context of heightened regional tension after the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas a little more than a year ago. The clashes have also spread to neighboring Lebanon where the Israeli army is clashing with Hezbollah. These two Islamist movements are allies of Iran.

On October 1, Tehran launched about 200 missiles at Israel, including hypersonic ones – a first. Israel had promised to make Tehran pay the price for this attack.

The warplanes “hit missile manufacturing facilities (…) that Iran has been firing against the state of Israel for a year. These rockets posed an immediate and imminent threat to the citizens of Israel,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

At the same time, the Israeli armed forces pointed out that they targeted “surface-to-air missile arrays and other anti-aircraft defense systems.”

In a separate announcement, the representative of the Israeli army, rear admiral Daniel Hagari explained that the strikes give Israel “greater freedom of action” in Iranian airspace.

“Our message is clear: everyone who threatens the state of Israel and tries to drag the region into a wider escalation will pay a heavy price,” he underlined.

The timeline of the attack

The first explosions were heard at approximately 02:15 (local time, 01:45 Greek time), mainly west of Tehran, as reported by the Iranian news agency Irna.

Israel “attacked military centers in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan (southwest) and Ilam (west),” which border Iraq, “as part of a de-escalation operation,” Iran’s air defense forces said in a statement.

According to the same source, the Israeli attack caused “limited damage in some areas”.

Iranian state television had spoken during the night of “six powerful explosions” around Tehran, which were linked “to the activation of the anti-aircraft defense system.”

Iran announced the suspension of all flights in its airspace until further noticebut now the air traffic has been restored.

“No explosion or fire” has been reported at Tehran’s central refinery, the Tasnim news agency said.

From Washington, the White House described Israel’s strikes as “self-defense maneuvers” and asked Tehran to “end its attacks against Israel in order to close this cycle of conflicts without further escalation.”

A senior administration official of US President Joe Biden commented that with these “targeted and proportionate strikes” by Israel against Iranian military positions, the direct exchanges of fire between the two countries should end.

He also added that the US is fully prepared to once again defend Israel, should Iran decide to retaliate.

At the same time, the American official pointed out that the US has direct and indirect channels of communication with Tehran through which it has made clear its positions on many issues.

The US was informed but not involved

The October 1 Iranian missile attack was launched in retaliation for Israeli strikes against Lebanon in September that killed an Iranian general and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Iranian officials had pointed out that this operation was also a response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya on Iranian soil, attributed to Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad had warned that his country would respond “in a lethal, specific and surprise” manner to the October 1 Iranian attack.

US President Joe Biden had asked Israel in early October not to hit Iranian oil facilities, which Tehran also warned against.

On October 14 the newspaper Washington Post reported in an op-ed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Biden that he was considering hitting Iran’s military, not Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities.

“We understand that Israel’s targeted strikes against military targets in Iran are self-defense maneuvers in response to the October 1st Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel,” White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.

“We call on Iran to stop its attacks against Israel so that this cycle of conflict can be closed without further escalation,” he added.

The US was informed in advance by Israel of its strikes against Iran but was not involved in the operation, a US Defense official explained.

Wounds in Syria

In Syria, the SANA news agency reported today that Israel launched an attack against “military positions” on Syrian soil from the occupied Golan Heights and Lebanese airspace.

At approximately 02:00 (local and Greek time) “the Israeli enemy launched an air strike with a barrage of rockets”, which were fired from “the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and Lebanon” against “military positions in the central and southern part” of of Syria, a military source cited by SANA said.

“Our anti-aircraft defenses countered the enemy’s missiles and shot down some,” the same source said, adding that an assessment of any impact “of the attack” is underway.

“Air defenses were activated” in several provinces of the country, mainly in Homs, Damascus and its suburbs, in order to “try to target Israeli aircraft that were crossing Syrian airspace,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Human Rights.

For its part, Iraq announced the suspension of air traffic at all its airports until further notice due to “regional tensions”.

Meanwhile, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” organization, a coalition of armed Iraqi groups close to Tehran, claimed responsibility early today for a drone attack against a “military target” in northern Israel.