TEHRAN: Iran said Israeli airstrikes targeting its military sites killed two soldiers on Saturday (October 26) after Israel said its warplanes carried out strikes in retaliation for a rocket barrage.
This is what we know:
WHAT HAPPENED?
The Israeli army said on Saturday it had carried out “precise attacks on military targets in Iran”.
Explosions were heard in Tehran around 2:15 a.m. (6:45 a.m. Singapore time), AFP journalists in the Iranian capital said.
Iranian state television said the blasts were caused by the “activation of the air defense system” in response to an Israeli attack.
The Israeli military said it had simultaneously hit missile production facilities, surface-to-air missile arrays and other “air capabilities.”
It later said the airstrike had “terminated” its response to the airstrike. The Iranian missile attack of October 1stating that the fighters had returned safely and that the mission had been “accomplished”.
Iran’s air force confirmed attacks on military bases in Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam provinces that “caused limited damage.”
The military said two soldiers were killed, while the country’s civil aviation authority announced the resumption of flights after a brief suspension.
The State Department said Iran “has the right and obligation to defend itself,” citing the United Nations Charter.
State media in Syria said Israel also launched airstrikes on its territory from the occupied Golan Heights and Lebanon.
Iran and Syria are allies in the so-called ‘axis of resistance’, which also includes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at an intelligence base in northern Israel and drones at an airbase in the south of the country. The Israeli military said about 80 projectiles were fired.