TEL AVIV, October 26. /TASS/. The Israeli military has carried out airstrikes on Iranian missile manufacturing facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
According to the IDF, Israeli planes safely returned home.
The Israeli army said that the attack had been conducted in response to the Iranian attacks on Israel in recent months; the retaliatory strike had been completed and the mission had been fulfilled. However, the IDF will have to respond if Iran begins a new round of escalation.
The Iranian military, in turn, said that some of its facilities in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam had come under attack but Israel had only managed to cause limited damage.
Tehran is ready to give a proportionate response to Israeli strikes, the Tasnim news agency reported, citing an informed source.
TASS has gathered the main information about these developments.
Israeli operation and its consequences
- Over 100 planes were involved in the 2000 km attack, including the cutting-edge F-35, the Jerusalem Post reported.
- Israel hit about 20 targets, the New York Times said.
- The Israeli military carried out three waves of strikes on targets in Iran, Barak Ravid, political reporter for the Axios media outlet, said, citing sources. The first wave focused on the Iranian air defense system and the second and third waves focused on missile and drone bases and production sites.
- The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the Israeli army had carried out strikes on military facilities in southern and central Syria. The country’s air defenses downed several missiles.
- Israel’s preliminary strike on radar targets in Syria was aimed at "blinding" Iran’s capabilities, quickly escalating into an offensive targeting Tehran and Karaj, Iran’s capital and another strategic location, the Jerusalem Post reported.
- Israel did not target Iranian nuclear and strategic facilities, Iran’s ShafaqNA news agency reported, adding that no civilian or military casualties had been reported.
- Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facilities in western and southwestern Tehran were not hit by Israeli strikes, the Tasnim news agency said.
- Israel’s strikes targeted neither Iran’s oil facilities nor Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport nor Mehrabad International Airport in the Iranian capital, the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV channel reported.
- All flights in Iran have been canceled until further notice.
- The situation in Tehran and other big Iranian cities remains calm, a Russian embassy spokesperson said, adding that the embassy continued to operate normally.
Washington’s stance on Israeli strikes
- The US administration stated that it was not involved in Saturday's Israeli attack on Iran, noting that Israel had conducted precision airstrikes against military targets, outside populated areas.
- The US said it was fully prepared to once again defend against any attack but believed that the Israeli operation should be the end of the direct military exchange between Israel and Iran.