The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it performed attacks on military targets in three Iranian regions early this morning. The Iranian military, in turn, said that some of its facilities in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam had come under attack, but that Israel had only managed to cause limited damage.
U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Türkiye, Tunisia, Algeria, Irak Kuwait, Qatar condemned the raid. Al Ahram has Egypt among the countries that condemned the raid, although the Egyptian statement is weak. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a joint statement with France’s President Emmanuel Macron that calls for restraint, sounding more directed at Iran than at Israel. All Western countries sided with Israel, Al Ahram insists.
TASS has the following review of sources:
• Over 100 planes were involved in the 2,000 km attack, including the cutting-edge F-35, the Jerusalem Post reported.
• Israel hit about 20 targets, the New York Times said.
• 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 official 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 also Karaj, 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.
• The situation in Tehran and other major Iranian cities remains calm, a Russian embassy spokesperson said, adding that the embassy continued to operate normally.
