Israel launched its long-awaited retaliatory strikes on Iran early Saturday local time, the Israeli military said. Israel had vowed payback for Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, during which the Islamic republic launched about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.
In a statement, Israel Defense Forces said that “in response to months of continuous attacks” from Iran, it conducted “precise strikes on military targets in Iran.”
A source told CBS News the Israeli attack was limited to military targets, and not nuclear or oil installations.
The U.S. was given an advanced warning of the attacks, the source said.
“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 IDF said in its statement. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”
Very few of Iran’s missiles made it past Israel’s advanced missile defense systems, and there were no casualties from the Oct. 1 attack, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to make Iran “pay for it.”
“The regime of Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves,” the Israeli leader said in a statement shortly after the Iranian attack on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. “They will understand.”
President Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have both said Israel had the right to defend itself and respond to the Iranian attack, but Mr. Biden was clear that he would not support an Israeli attack targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities or major oil infrastructure.
In anticipation of the Israeli response — and any potential Iranian counter-response — the U.S. sent Israel a new missile defense system in mid-October. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Oct. 21 that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system had arrived in Israel, along with about 100 American troops.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Margaret Brennan
contributed to this report.
