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The United States, Germany, and Britain urged Tehran to refrain from intensifying the conflict further after Israel threatened to “pay a heavy price” if Iran retaliated to the strikes.
After Israeli airstrikes killed at least two soldiers and heightened fears of a full-scale regional conflict in the Middle East, Iran issued a warning on Saturday that it would defend itself.
The United States, Germany, and Britain urged Tehran to refrain from intensifying the conflict further after Israel threatened to “pay a heavy price” if Iran retaliated to the strikes.
Russia and other nations, including many of Iran’s neighbours, called for both sides to exercise restraint and steer clear of what Moscow called a “catastrophic scenario” in response to Israel’s strikes.
While its Lebanese ally Hezbollah claimed to have already fired rocket salvos at five residential areas in northern Israel, the Islamic republic maintained that it had the “right and the duty” to defend itself.
Eighty projectiles were fired across the border on Saturday, according to the Israeli army.
Following explosions and anti-aircraft fire that reverberated throughout Tehran, the Israeli military confirmed that it had struck Iranian missile factories and military installations in multiple areas.
According to a military spokesperson, Israeli aircraft “returned safely” and the “retaliatory strike has been completed and the mission was fulfilled.”
Iran said the raids killed two soldiers but caused “limited damage” and confirmed that Israel had targeted military sites in Tehran province, which is near the capital, and other parts of the country.
Direct attack
On October 1, Iran launched about 200 missiles in the second direct attack against its arch-enemy, prompting Israel to vow retaliation. One person was killed, but the majority of those missiles were intercepted.
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and Hamas all condemned the Israeli retaliation and cautioned against a further escalation. Israel had not used its airspace, according to Jordan. One of the most vocal opponents was Turkey which demanded an end to the “terror created by Israel.”
Israel is currently fighting on two fronts.
It has been engaged in a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon since last month, which has included ground incursions aimed at destroying missile sites and strikes that have killed the group’s top leaders.
Furthermore, Israel has been engaged in a war in Gaza for over a year since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, which has resulted in a significant number of civilian deaths in the heavily populated Palestinian territory.
With Palestinians dealing with a severe humanitarian crisis and daily Israeli bombing, the UN has warned that the “darkest moment” of that conflict is approaching.
In the aftermath of the Gaza war, Iranian-affiliated groups in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria have carried out attacks alongside Hezbollah and Hamas.
The Syrian state news agency SANA reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted military installations in central and southern Syria at about the same time that Israel hit targets in Iran.
“Iranian proxies”
Before dawn Saturday, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of pro-Iranian groups, claimed responsibility for a drone attack against a “military target” in northern Israel.
Two people were killed by shrapnel wounds on Friday after a Hezbollah rocket barrage into northern Israel according to Israeli officials.
Hezbollah also claimed to have launched drones against Israel’s Tel Nof air base south of Tel Aviv and fired rockets at Israeli soldiers near the southern Lebanon village of Aita al-Shaab and an intelligence base in addition to the residential strikes.
On Saturday, Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike in the southern city of Bazuriyeh killed a doctor with ties to Hezbollah.
Israel’s response to Iran was described as “an exercise in self-defence” by Sean Savett, spokesman for the US National Security Council.
“Stop its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation,” he pleaded with Iran.
Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 sparked the war in Gaza, and the Israeli military has accused “Iran and its proxies” in the region of “relentlessly attacking Israel since then.”
According to an AFP count of official Israeli figures, 1,206 people were killed in that attack, the majority of them civilians.
In Gaza, militants continue to hold dozens of hostages that were taken that day.
42,924 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israel’s ground war and retaliatory bombardment in Gaza, according to data from the health ministry of the Hamas run territory that the UN deems credible.
Israel shifted its attention to Lebanon in late September, attacking Hezbollah leaders and targets before deploying ground forces.
According to Israel, the goal is to ensure that tens of thousands of displaced civilians can safely return to the country’s north.
An AFP analysis of Lebanese health ministry data shows that since September 23, at least 1,580 people have died in Lebanon.
Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles in April in what was its first direct attack on Israeli territory.
Tehran claimed the bombardment was retaliation for an attack that killed members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Iran’s consular annexe in Damascus.
US officials, quoted by American media, claimed that the explosions that rocked Iran’s Isfahan province later in April were Israeli retaliation.
The hospital is in danger.
Iran claimed that its October 1 missile strike on Israel was retaliation for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and an Israeli airstrike that killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah.
In a raid that it claimed killed two children, Gaza’s health ministry accused Israeli forces on Friday of taking control of the last operational hospital in the northern part of the territory.
However, the Israeli military claimed that it was “not aware of live fire and strikes in the area of the hospital,” despite its forces being in operation near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza.
According to the Israeli military, it aims to eliminate the operational capabilities that Hamas is attempting to restore in the northern region.
Israeli drone strikes killed 12 people waiting for aid near the Al-Shati refugee camp on Friday, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.