Israel fired what it called “precise and targeted” airstrikes against Iran in response to Iran’s earlier this month barrage of missile attacks against Israel.
The latest exchange between the two countries has been making people worry about a full-scale war in the area for months.
Iran says that two troops were killed in attacks on military sites on Saturday, but early signs show that the attacks were not as bad as was thought.
This is what we know.
How did the killings happen?
Around 2:00 a.m. local time (22:45 GMT on Friday), explosions were recorded in and around Tehran, the country’s capital.
Newsline confirmed that a video posted on social media showed projectiles in the sky over the city, and people in some places said they heard loud booms.
Not long after that, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed that it was hitting “military targets” in Iran with “precise” strikes.
From the IDF’s command and control center in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant watched the action.
The IDF said the strikes were over just after 6:00 a.m. (03:00 GMT).
The strikes were called a “exercise of self-defense” by the White House. A high-level source in the administration said that the US had worked with Israel to push for a “targeted and proportional” reaction.
How big were the attacks?
At this point, it’s still not clear how bad the attacks were or how much damage they did.
The IDF said it hit about 20 targets, such as military sites, factories that make rockets, and surface-to-air missiles.
The military of Iran said that two troops had died “fighting projectiles.”
Authorities in Iran said that targets were in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan, and Tehran. The air defense of the country said it had “successfully intercepted” the attacks, but “some areas sustained limited damage.”
Newsline Verify has found damage at an air defense base to the south and a defense ministry base to the east of Tehran.
A top source in the US government said that the attacks did not hurt Iran’s oil infrastructure or nuclear facilities, which were two things that President Joe Biden had asked Israel not to attack.
Israeli airstrikes were also said to have hit military sites in central and southern Syria by Syrian state media, but Israel has not stated that it has attacked the country.
Why did Israel attack Iran?
Iran is the main backer of many anti-Israeli groups in the Middle East, which are sometimes called “proxy groups.” These include Hamas and Hezbollah, which Israel is at war with right now.
With about 300 missiles and drones, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel in April. This was in response to an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian embassy compound in Syria that killed several top leaders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In response, Israel hit a missile defense system in the Isfahan region of Iran with a “limited” attack. Iran did not react.
In late July, Israel killed a top Hezbollah leader in a strike on Beirut. A bomb in Tehran killed Ismail Haniyeh, the political boss of Hamas, the next day. Iran said that Israel was to blame, but Israel didn’t say anything.
Late in September, Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, a high-ranking Iranian officer, in Beirut.
Iran fired 200 nuclear missiles at Israel on October 1. It said it did this because Haniyeh, Nasrallah, and Nilforoushan had died.
What will happen next?
There were early signs that this attack wasn’t as bad as some people thought it would be.
Axios reported that Israel sent Iran a message before the attacks that gave some information about the strikes and told Tehran not to react.
Those actions might mean Israel doesn’t want to make things worse, at least for now.
“We are focused on our war goals in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.” It is Iran that wants things to get worse in the region, the IDF said in a statement.
“This should be the end of this direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran,” a top US source said.
Foreign Ministry of Iran said that Iran was “entitled and obligated to defend itself” and that the attack was against international law.
But it also said that Tehran knows it has “responsibilities toward peace and security in the region.”
How is things going in Iran?
Images released by Iran’s state media show that life is mostly going on as usual. The streets are busy, people are working out in parks, and fruit and veggie markets are open as usual.
Overnight, Iran shut down its airspace for a few hours. It later reopened, and there are now business flights all over the country.
But there are signs that the Iranian government wants to downplay how bad the killings were.
If you send “images or news” about the attack to news sites that the IRGC considers “Israel-affiliated” or “hostile,” you are breaking the law. Iran often says that Western media are unfriendly.
Iran’s news outlets said today that the city’s prosecutor’s office has charged an unnamed website with “covering issues against national security.”
What has the world done?
Sean Savett, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said that Israel’s reaction “avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets, in contrast to Iran’s attack against Israel, which targeted Israel’s most populous city.”
He also said that Washington’s goal is “to speed up diplomacy and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region.”
The prime minister of the UK, Sir Keir Starmer, said that Israel had the right to protect itself. He also told everyone to “show restraint” and told Iran not to respond.
Saudi Arabia said the attack was wrong and told people not to do anything that “threatens the security and stability” of the area.
These worries were shared by Egypt’s foreign ministry, which said it was “gravely concerned” about the strikes.
Hamas called them “a flagrant violation of Iranian sovereignty, and an escalation that targets the security of the region and the safety of its peoples” .
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