Israeli far-right minister says ‘historic obligation’ to remove Iran threat
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir welcomed Saturday’s strikes against military targets in Iran, but said a “historic obligation” remained to remove the threat posed by Tehran.
“The attack on Iran is important as an opening blow to damage Iran’s strategic assets,” Ben Gvir wrote on X, adding: “We have a historic obligation to remove the Iranian threat to destroy Israel”.
Iran’s military suggests a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon trumps any retaliation against Israel
Iran’s military issued a carefully worded statement Saturday night suggesting a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon trumps any retaliation against Israel.
While saying it had the right to retaliate, the statement suggested Tehran may be trying to find a way to avoid further escalation after Israel’s attack early Saturday.
Iran’s military added that Israel used so-called “stand-off” missiles over Iraqi airspace to launch its attacks and that the warheads were much lighter in order to travel the distance to the targets they struck in three provinces in Iran.
The statement said Iranian military radar sites had been damaged, but some already were under repair.
Iran army says only radar systems damaged by Israel strikes
Iran’s military said Saturday that only radar systems were damaged in pre-dawn Israeli strikes on Tehran and other provinces.
“Thanks to the timely performance of the country’s air defences, the attacks caused limited damage and a few radar systems were damaged,” the armed forces general staff said in a statement read out on state television.
Iran raises the death toll from Israel’s attack to four, all from its military air defense
Iran has raised the death toll from Israel’s attack to four and said all served in the country’s military air defense.
The state-run IRNA news agency announced the deaths Saturday night. It offered no details on where the four men were stationed in the country.
Israel attacked military targets in Iran with pre-dawn airstrikes in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired on Israel earlier this month. The strikes marked the first time Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran.
Iranians and Israelis react to Tel Aviv’s attack on Tehran
Iranians awoke to the news of Israeli strikes on their country Saturday morning with some expressing fear of a widening conflict in the Middle East while others appeared to be unfazed.
Meanwhile in Israel, residents carried about their daily routine with some expressing their support for the retaliatory attack on Iran.
Iran says two soldiers killed in Israeli strikes
Two soldiers were killed in Saturday morning’s Israeli airstrikes on Iran, the official news agency IRNA reported.
“The army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in defending Iran’s security and protecting the people and Iran’s interests, sacrificed two of its fighters while countering projectiles from the criminal Zionist regime,” the statement said.
Iran says ‘no limits’ to determination to defend itself
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that Iran was determined to defend itself after Israeli warplanes struck military bases and missile sites in several Iranian provinces, killing two soldiers.
“I think we’ve shown that our determination to defend ourselves knows no limits,” Araghchi said in an interview with the official website of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Biden says he hopes Israeli strikes against Iran are the end
President Joe Biden on Saturday said it appeared Israel had only struck military targets in its attack on Iran, and that he hoped they were “the end.”
Hezbollah condemns Israeli strike on Iran as ‘dangerous escalation’
Lebanon’s Hezbollah warned Saturday of a “dangerous escalation” in the region, saying Washington bears “full responsibility” for the “treacherous” raids on Iran launched by its Israeli ally.
“Hezbollah strongly condemns the treacherous Zionist aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran and considers it a dangerous escalation at the level of the entire region,” Hezbollah said in a statement, adding that the United States “bears full responsibility for the massacres, tragedies and pain” caused by Israel.
‘Great frustration’ in US over Israel’s actions in MidEast region
There is “great frustration” in the US over Israel’s actions in the Middle East of which the latest was a retaliatory attack on Iran Saturday, said FRANCE 24’s Philip Turle.
“All of their efforts so far, don’t appear to have come to anything,” added Turle, citing diplomatic efforts made by President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza and de-escalation in Lebanon the past few weeks.
Israeli strikes on Iran: ‘Mixed reactions’ among Iranians
There were mixed reactions among Iranians following Israel’s strikes on the Islamic Republic early Saturday with some carrying on with their daily routines and others panicking, FRANCE 24’s Saeed Azimi said, reporting from Tehran.
“All offices are open, schools are open, international flights will resume tonight from Tehran’s international airport”, Azimi added.
Situation in northern Gaza ‘catastrophic’, says WHO chief
The World Health Organization chief warned Saturday of a disastrous situation in the north of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, with “intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities”.
“The situation in northern Gaza is catastrophic,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, warning that “a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely limited access, are depriving people of life saving care”.
UN chief ‘deeply alarmed’ by escalation after strikes on Iran
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday said he was “deeply alarmed” by the escalation of violence in the Middle East after Israel carried out deadly air strikes in Iran.
Guterres “urgently reiterates his appeal to all parties to cease all military actions, including in Gaza and Lebanon,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, calling for “maximum efforts to prevent an all-out regional war and return to the path of diplomacy.”
Israeli attacks killed 19 in Lebanon on Friday, year-long toll at 2,653, health ministry says
Israeli attacks killed 19 people in Lebanon on Friday, bringing the total death toll to 2,653 since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Israeli army says Hamas militant killed in West Bank raid
The Israeli military said its forces killed a Palestinian militant who belonged to Hamas’s armed wing during a raid on Saturday in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.
In a joint statement, the Israeli military, police and domestic security agency Shin Bet said that they conducted a “counterterrorism operation in Tulkarem to eliminate Islam Odeh”, who they accused of planning “terror attacks”.
The statement said that during the operation, Odeh “opened fire at the security forces, who encircled him and returned fire”, killing him. “The forces located weaponry, including compounds used to produce IEDs, in his vehicle,” they said.
Odeh had recently been “tasked with commanding the terrorist network in Tulkarem and had started to plan additional terror attacks”, after another Hamas militant, Zahi Oufi, was killed in an Israeli strike.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, mourned the death of “commander and leader of the Qassam Brigades’s Tulkarem Battalion, Islam Jamil Odeh (from Tulkarem Camp)” in a statement on Saturday.
EU calls for ‘utmost restraint’ after Israel strikes Iran
The European Union on Saturday called for all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an “uncontrollable escalation” in the Middle East after Israel carried out deadly air strikes in Iran.
“The dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliations risks causing a further expansion of the regional conflict,” the 27-nation bloc said in a statement.
“While acknowledging Israel’s right to self-defence, the EU calls on all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an uncontrollable escalation, which is in no one’s interest.”
Hezbollah says it fired rockets at five Israeli residential zones
Hezbollah said it fired rockets at five residential areas in northern Israel on Saturday, as the Israeli army said the Iran-backed group fired about 80 projectiles across the border.
In a series of statements, Hezbollah claimed “rocket salvos” on five residential areas in northern Israel, including the outskirts of Krayot near Haifa.
Lebanon says Israeli strike kills Hezbollah-linked rescuer
Lebanon’s health ministry said a Hezbollah-affiliated paramedic was killed Saturday in an Israeli strike on a medical centre in southern Lebanon, which left five others wounded, three of them Hezbollah-linked paramedics.
“The Israeli enemy’s raid on a medical centre in Bazuriyeh resulted in” the death of a rescuer with the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee.
It brings to 164 the number of rescuers and paramedics killed in Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel began trading cross-border fire last year, the health ministry said.
Bahrain condemns military action against Iran, calls for immediate ceasefire
Bahrain’s foreign ministry on Saturday condemned military action against Iran, urging an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians and reduce regional tensions, after Israel carried out air strikes on Iranian military targets.
Army says Hezbollah fired about 80 projectiles at Israel on Saturday
The Israeli army on Saturday said Hezbollah had fired around 80 projectiles targeting the country, just hours after Israel launched air strikes targeting military facilities in Iran.
“As of 15:00 (12:00 GMT), approximately 80 projectiles that were fired by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation have crossed from Lebanon into Israel today,” the army said in a statement.
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