The Israeli military carried out missile attacks on Iran late Thursday, as reports of explosions in Iraq and Syria came in late Thursday and early Friday, reported “NPR” on Friday.
The missile attacks appear to be Israel’s reaction to Iran’s assault on Sunday, during which Tehran launched hundreds of slow-moving drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s strike on its embassy in Damascus, Syria on April 1, killing seven Iranian military advisers and senior members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Most of Iran’s strikes were said to have been intercepted, while those that hit targets did minimal damage.
Brigadier General Mihan Dost, a military officer in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, said loud sounds that were heard east of the city were the sound of air defenses intercepting what he called a “suspicious target” and that no damage was detected in the region, Iran state news agency IRNA reported.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN on Thursday that if Israel takes any further military action against it, Iran’s response will be “immediate and at a maximum level.”
Israel’s hardliner National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted that Israel’s latest purported strike on Iran was “weak” and too narrow.
An Israeli intelligence expert who is a former director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency told CBS News on Friday, “It is in no way proportionate to the attack we had to deal with a couple of days ago, but it is enough to send the message to the leadership in Iran.”
Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting aircraft near western Iran early Friday morning, after reports of the Israeli raid. The carriers provided no explanation, despite local warnings to aviators that the airspace may have been restricted.
Iran declared that commercial aircraft had been grounded in Tehran and other parts of the country’s western and central provinces, but state media later reported that regular flight operations had resumed.
Israel’s air defenses opened fire on a key air base in Isfahan, which has long housed Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcat fighter planes acquired before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to IRNA.
Isfahan also has many installations related to Iran’s claimed nuclear program, notably the subterranean Natanz enrichment facility, which has been frequently targeted by suspected Israeli assaults.
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States will not join in any Israeli counter-offensive against Iran.
Iran had delivered a message to the Biden administration the week before via numerous Arab countries, warning that if the US intervened in the conflict between Israel and Iran, US soldiers in the region would be attacked.