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Israel Strikes Iranian Military Targets, Reports of ‘Limited’ Damage Ease Escalation Fear

Israeli Air Force plane, October 26, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS

Israel bombed military sites in Iran early on Saturday, but its retaliation for an Iranian attack this month did not target the most sensitive oil and nuclear facilities and drew no immediate vows of vengeance.

The risk of a wider conflagration between heavily armed Israel and Iran has convulsed a region already on fire with warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, but Tehran’s initial response appeared muted.

Israel’s military said scores of jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, and warned its heavily armed arch-foe not to hit back.

Iran said its air defenses had successfully countered the attack but four soldiers were killed and some locations suffered “limited damage.” A semi-official Iranian news agency said there would be a “proportional reaction” to the Israeli strikes.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have grown rapidly since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas, raising fears of a wider regional conflict that could drag in global powers and imperil world energy supplies.

Fears of an escalation have increased since Oct. 1 when Iran launched about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, killing one person in the West Bank, in response to earlier Israeli moves.

Worsening conflict in Lebanon, where Israel is waging an intense campaign against Iran’s main regional ally Hezbollah to stop it firing rockets into northern Israel, has raised the temperature still further.

The United States and other countries responded to Israel’s strikes by calling for an end to the cycle of confrontation. President Joe Biden said it appeared Israel had only struck military targets in its attack and that he hoped they were “the end.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country has no limits when it comes to defending its interests, its territorial integrity and its people, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

An earlier statement from the Foreign Ministry said Iran was “entitled and obligated” to defend itself, but added that it “recognizes its responsibilities towards regional peace and security,” a more conciliatory statement than after previous bouts of escalation.

Two regional officials briefed by Iran told Reuters that several high-level meetings were held in Tehran to determine the scope of Iran’s response. One official said the damage was “very minimal” but added that several Revolutionary Guards bases in and around Tehran were also hit.

Iranian news sites aired footage of passengers at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, seemingly meant to show there was little impact.

Israel’s military, signaling it did not expect an immediate Iranian response, said there was no change to public safety restrictions across the country.

‘MESSAGE TO IRAN’

Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, said the Israeli strike had appeared designed to give Tehran an opportunity to avoid further escalation.

“We see that Israel wants to close this event, to pass this message to Iran that it is closed and we don’t want to escalate it,” he said.

Videos carried by Iranian media showed air defenses continuously firing at apparently incoming projectiles in central Tehran, without saying which sites were coming under attack.

Israel’s military said its jets had struck missile manufacturing facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays, and safely returned home.

“If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond,” the military said.

Israel notified the US before striking, but Washington was not involved in the operation, a US official told Reuters. Targets did not include energy infrastructure or Iran’s nuclear facilities, a US official said.

In the days after Iran’s strikes on Israel this month, Biden had warned that Washington, Israel’s main backer and supplier of arms, would not support a retaliatory strike on Tehran’s nuclear sites and had said Israel should consider alternatives to attacking Iran’s oil fields.

Arab states situated between Israel and Iran have been particularly worried that use of their airspace could prompt retaliation against them.

Jordanian television quoted a source in the country’s armed forces as saying no military planes had been allowed through its airspace. A Saudi official also said that Saudi airspace had not been used for the strike.

A regional intelligence source said Israeli jets had flown across southern Syria, emitting sonic booms near the Jordanian border, and then across Iraq.

Saudi Arabia, which has mended fences with Iran after years of regional rivalry, and had been edging towards better ties with Israel before the war in Gaza, condemned the attack as a violation of Iranian sovereignty and international law.

LEBANON CONFLICT

In Lebanon, Hezbollah said on Saturday it had launched a drone attack at Israel’s Tel Nof airbase south of Tel Aviv and targeted an intelligence base in northern Safed with rockets.

Israel said it had struck Hezbollah facilities in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburb including a weapons-making site and an intelligence headquarters.

The conflict in Lebanon, which has greatly intensified in recent weeks, has also led to strikes on sites linked to Iran and Hezbollah in Syria.

Israel launched airstrikes against some military sites in central and southern Syria early on Saturday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. Israel has not confirmed striking Syria.

Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, which could help cool the wider conflict, are expected to resume in Doha when negotiators fly there on Sunday.

The post Israel Strikes Iranian Military Targets, Reports of ‘Limited’ Damage Ease Escalation Fear first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool

US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.

Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.

“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.

“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”

Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.

After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.

Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.

On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.

The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.

On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.

Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.

Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.

ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.

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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 NewsIn a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.

The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.

“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”

Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.

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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.

Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.

Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.

The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.

The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.

Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.

Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.

Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.

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