Adds details throughout
Israel launched what its military described as "precise strikes on military targets" in Iran early Saturday local time.
In a statement posted on the social media platform X, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strikes were in response to "months of continuous attacks" from Iran and its proxies in the region. Gaza-based militia group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, prompting a year of fighting in Gaza and escalating tensions throughout the region.
"Our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized," the IDF said.
Shortly after 06:30 local time (03:30 GMT), the IDF said it had "concluded the Israeli response to Iran's attacks against Israel" which involved "targeted and precise strikes on military targets in Iran."
Israel dubbed the operation "Days of repentance".
Iran's defence forces confirmed the attacks early on Saturday, referring to them as "attempts by the Zionist regime to target some sites… in several places around Tehran and elsewhere in the country." It said the country's air defences "had responded to the attempts," without saying whether any of its sites had been hit.
Following the conclusion of the Israel strike, however, the defence forces confirmed that some "military centers in Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam provinces" had been targeted by the strike.
"While the country's integrated air defence system successfully intercepted and countered this aggressive act, some sites did incur limited damage," the forces said.
Khuzestan province, in the west of the country and on the border with Iraq, is home to a significant portion of Iran's oil and gas production, which appears to have been spared in this exchange.
US president Joe Biden had been urging Israel in recent weeks not to target Iran's oil infrastructure, which would put 1.7mn b/d of Iranian crude exports at risk and could prompt Tehran to retaliate by attacking oil trade in the region.
Today's attack comes after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to take military action against Iran since Tehran conducted a large-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel at the start of October.
Iran's missile strike was in response to Israel's killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah, a number of other commanders in an airstrike in Beirut late last month, and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July.
The Israeli military killed Haniyeh's successor, Yahya Sinwar, earlier this month.
Israel and Iran also engaged in tit-for-tat strikes in April.
Hamas and Hezbollah are part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, a group of regional militia groups that are backed by Iran.
Draw a line
Immediately after its 1 October strike on Israel, Iran stressed that it considered that particular exchange closed. And Iranian officials had since been warning Tel Aviv against any further attacks, or else they would face an even stronger response from Iran.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari today issued a similar warning to Tehran.
"If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond," Hagari said. "Our message is clear: All those who threaten the state of Israel and seek to drag the region into wider escalation will pay a heavy price."
Iranian officials are yet to react formally to the overnight strikes, meaning it is as yet unclear how Iran may ultimately choose to respond.
Recent history suggests that any Iranian response, if there were to be one, would not be immediate. But the limited and targeted nature of Israel's response, with no reported casualties so far, could provide the off-ramp needed to avoid an all-out war at this particular time.
