Israel Concludes Iran Strikes in Retaliation for Oct 1 Missile Barrage

Last updated on October 28th, 2024 at 07:34 am

Israel launched a wave of airstrikes at Iran in the earlier hours on Oct. 26, in retaliation for the Oct. 1 Iranian missile barrage that struck across Israel.

“We have carried out targeted and precise attacks against military targets in Iran – and thwarted immediate threats to the State of Israel,” Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari announced on Saturday morning.

The Israeli Air Force announced all of its aircraft returned to their bases after conducting the strikes. The Israeli Air Force said they targeted Iranian missile production facilities and air-defense arrays.

Hagari said the Oct. 26 strikes mark the conclusion of Israel’s response to the Oct. 1 Iranian missile attack. Still, Hagari said the Israeli military selected its targets “from a broad target bank” and “we will be able to select additional targets from it and strike them if required.”

Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Iranian air defense systems intercepted several Israeli strikes targeting Iranian military installations. IRNA has reported four Iranian troops were killed during the strikes.

INRA reported Iran has reopened its airspace and has allowed civilian flights in and out of the country to resume. The Iranian state media publication also reported Iran’s power grid and its various oil facilities remain undamaged and continue to operate as normal.

The full extent of the damage brought by the Israeli attacks cannot immediately be verified.

IRNA has alleged various social media users have passed off older images of Israeli strikes in Lebanon as images of strikes inside Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) previously threatened additional attacks if Israel responded to the Oct. 1 Iranian barrage. Iran may instead decline to respond if it feels it cannot keep pace with Israeli escalations, or if it assesses the damage from the Israeli attack was minimal.

The Israeli government has acknowledged several Iranian ballistic missiles fell on and around their Nevatim and Tel Nof Airbases. Still, the Israeli military said no aircraft were damaged in that Iranian attack. One civilian in the West Bank was killed by falling missile debris during the Oct. 1 Iranian barrage.

The IRGC said it launched the Oct. 1 barrage in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah political leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan in Lebanon on Sept. 27. The IRGC said the Oct. 1 attack was also in retaliation for a July blast that killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh while he visited Iran in July; a killing Iran has attributed to Israel.

Iran previously launched a wave of missiles and drones at Israel in April, in retaliation for a suspected Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria on April 1. The Iranian government reported a subsequent round of air-defense interceptions, possibly from an Israeli retaliatory strike, but downplayed the severity of the attack, and allowed tensions to subside for a time.

This article was updated with additional casualty figures from Iran.