Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early yesterday, killing at least five people, while Israel claimed it had achieved air superiority over Tehran and could fly over the Iranian capital without facing major threats.
On the fourth day of the conflict, the Israeli military said it had destroyed more than 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers in central Iran, a third of Iran’s total. It also said fighter jets had struck 10 command centers in Tehran belonging to Iran’s Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.
“At this time, we can say that we have achieved full aerial superiority over Tehran’s skies,” Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said.
Photo: Reuters
Israeli strikes “amount to a deep and comprehensive blow to the Iranian threat,” he said.
Iran, meanwhile, said it had launched about 100 missiles, and vowed further retaliation for sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure that have killed at least 224 people in the country since Friday.
One missile fell near the US consulate in Tel Aviv, with its blast waves causing minor damage, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on X, adding that no US personnel were injured.
Photo: AFP
Israel said so far 24 people have been killed and more than 500 injured as Iran launched more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones.
Powerful explosions, likely from Israel’s defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn yesterday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the coastal city.
Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva said that Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, shattering windows and ripping the walls off multiple apartments.
The Israeli Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service reported that two women and two men — all in their 70s — and one other person were killed in the attacks that struck four sites in central Israel.
“We clearly see that our civilians are being targeted,” Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said outside the bombed-out building in Petah Tikva. “And this is just one scene. We have other sites like this near the coast, in the south.”
Petah Tikva resident Yoram Suki rushed with his family to a shelter after hearing an air raid alert, and emerged after it was over to find his apartment destroyed.
Despite losing his home, he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep up the attacks on Iran.
“It’s totally worth it,” the 60-year-old said. “This is for the sake of our children and grandchildren.”
In addition to those killed, the MDA said paramedics had evacuated another 87 wounded people to hospitals, while rescuers were still searching for residents trapped beneath the rubble of their homes.
“When we arrived at the scene of the rocket strike, we saw massive destruction,” said Gal Rosen, a paramedic with MDA who said he had rescued a four-day-old baby as fires blazed from the building.
In related news, Iranian authorities hanged a medical doctor identified as Esmail Fekri, who had been in prison since 2023 after being convicted of supplying the Mossad with “sensitive and classified” information, Iranian state-run television reported.
The latest conflict began when Israel launched an assault on Iran’s top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists that it said was necessary to prevent its longtime adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, and the US and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003. But the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that the country has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs if it chooses to do so.
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