Israel yesterday said it conducted airstrikes against Iran that hit military bases and missile sites in retaliation for the Islamic republic’s attacks, warning it would “pay a heavy price” if it responds.
The Israeli military said its strikes hit Iran’s missile manufacturing facilities, missile arrays and other systems in several regions.
Iran confirmed an Israeli attack had targeted military sites in the capital Tehran and other parts of the country, but said it had caused “limited damage.”
Photo: AFP
Israel had vowed to hit back at Iran for its Oct. 1 missile strike, the second-ever direct attack by the Islamic republic on its archfoe.
The rapid escalation of violence has heightened fears across the region and beyond of a wider war, pitting Israel against Iran and the allies it dubs the “axis of resistance” on multiple fronts.
“Based on intelligence, IAF [Israeli Air Force] aircraft struck missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the State of Israel over the last year,” Israel’s military said in a statement.
“Simultaneously, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities,” the Israeli army said, adding that the “retaliatory strike has been completed and the mission was fulfilled.”
Since the deadliest attack in its history on Oct. 7 last year, Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza, and since late last month, it has been at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Hamas are allies of Iran, as are armed groups in Yemen and Iraq, and the government in Syria.
In a statement announcing the operation, the Israeli military said it was conducting “precise strikes on military targets in Iran,” in response to what it said were “months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran.”
“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7th — on seven fronts — including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” the Israeli military said.
Iran yesterday suspended all flights until further notice, the Iranian aviation authority announced.
Iran in April launched its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory in retaliation for a deadly strike on Iran’s consular annex in Damascus.
Hamas’ attack last year on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza killed 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 42,847 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
Israel has since broadened the scope of its operations to Lebanon, vowing to secure its northern border after nearly a year of attacks launched by Iran-backed Hezbollah in support of Hamas.
At least 1,580 people have been killed in Lebanon since Sept. 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese Ministry of Public Health figures.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
A registered sex offender from the US who went missing after entering Taiwan has been found and would be deported in light of the risk he poses to the public, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday. The agency launched a search for Levi Forrest Wallace, 43, after it was informed by the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT) that he had entered Taiwan on Oct. 2 on a tourist visa. He was not on the US government’s wanted list. Wallace was sentenced to 90 days in jail with a two-year probation in 2001 after he was convicted of sexual delinquency of