Israel fires retaliatory strikes against Tehran over ballistic missile barrage
October 25, 2024 in News by RBN Staff
Source: NYPost.com
Israel launched airstrikes at military targets in Iran early Saturday in retaliation for Tehran’s ballistic barrage of 200 rockets targeting the Jewish state earlier this month, the Israeli military confirmed.
Multiple explosions were reported near Tehran, Iran’s capital, and the nearby city of Karaj, according to reports.
“It was so loud and the sky became red,” said an Iranian resident in Tehran, who asked not to be named.
The Israel Defense Forces fired “precise strikes” on military targets in Iran “in response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel,” an IDF spokesperson said in a statement.
“Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond. We will do whatever necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel,” the spokesperson added.
The White House was notified shortly before Israel carried out its attack on Iran, Fox News reported.
“We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett.
The US is not participating in the military operations against Iran and President Biden is currently in Wilmington, Delaware, and doesn’t intend on convening in the Situation Room, according to reports.
The Israel Defense Forces had pledged a “serious and significant” response to Iran’s attack, with Friday night’s strike serving as a rare and open direct assault on the Islamic Republic.
Iran launched dozens of missiles toward Israel on Oct. 1 in direct response to the recent assassinations of Hezbollah founder Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and an Iranian general.
Despite the extent of the attack on Tel Aviv and other Israeli population centers, many missiles were intercepted before they could cause any serious harm.
In the wake of Iran’s ballistic missile barrage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel would respond with its own retaliatory attack.
US officials, who backed Israel’s right to respond to Iran’s attack, said America had been advising the Jewish state on how to prepare a “proportionate” response.
Israel has been at war with the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, and also fending off assaults from the terrorists’ allies such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen and Iran.
With Post wires
This is a developing story.