Israel on Saturday launched air strikes targeting military bases in Iran amid heightened tensions in West Asia, Reuters reported.
Two soldiers were killed in the strikes, Iran said.
The attack was in retaliation to Tehran launching at least 180 missiles into Israel on October 2, which raised fears of an all-out war in West Asia and disruption of the global energy markets.
The Israeli military struck the military sites in Iran around 2 am, Al Jazeera reported. Subsequently, Tel Aviv said it had “completed” the strikes and “achieved its objectives”.
In a statement on the strikes, the Iranian defence forces said that bases in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran had been hit.
However, the attacks were “successfully countered”, Tehran added. “Though minor damages were caused in some areas, and the extent of the incident is currently under investigation,” it said.
Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces, said in a video statement recorded ahead of the strikes that “Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October…including direct attacks from Iranian soil”.
Israel had the “right and the duty” to respond, he added.
Tehran has vowed a “proportional reaction” to the Israeli strikes, Reuters quoted a semi-official Iranian news agency as having reported on Saturday.
Following the attacks, United States National Security Council Spokesperson Sean Savett said that Israel’s actions against Iran was “an exercise in self-defence” focused solely on military targets, AFP reported.
Savett urged Iran to “cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation”. He added that Washington has sought to “accelerate diplomacy”.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday that it was concerned by the escalation in West Asia and “its ramifications for peace and stability in the region and beyond”. New Delhi said it was reiterating its call to “all concerned to exercise restraint and return” to dialogue and diplomacy.
After the October 2 attack by Iran, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had said that the missile attack was in response to the killing of leaders of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Iranian military.
Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas. Both organisations are backed by Iran.
On October 4, United States President Joe Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against attacking Iran’s oil fields and nuclear facilities as part of Tel Aviv’s retaliation.
Meanwhile, Israel continued to bombard parts of Lebanon. This is being viewed as the deadliest attack Lebanon has faced since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily strikes for over 10 months amid Tel Aviv’s war on the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
At least 1,580 persons have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, AFP reported. However, the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data, according to the news agency.
The Israeli attacks have also displaced thousands of Lebanese citizens.
The ongoing bombardment in Lebanon is seen as a significant escalation of geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then. The attacks have killed more than 43,000 persons, including nearly 16,700 children.
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