Iran says Israeli strikes inflicted ‘limited’ damage

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran said Israel's overnight airstrikes caused only “limited” damage as it minimized the impact of the retaliation that has been anticipated for weeks.

Israel carried out a number of strikes on Iranian targets in Tehran and several other provinces early Saturday morning, around 2 am local time. Israel said the strikes were in response to Iran’s attacks in the past.

Iran’s air defense system command said in a statement that Israel hit military bases in the capital Tehran, the western province of Ilam and southwestern province of Khuzestan. It claimed that the missiles were “intercepted” and that the damage was “limited,” reported the state-owned IRNA news agency. 

Iranian army later said that two of its soldiers were killed in the strikes. 

Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), said the strikes were in response to Tehran’s attacks on Israel. 

“The Israeli Defence Forces has fulfilled its mission. If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond,” he said in a televised statement. 

Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel on October 1. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack was in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and an IRGC commander.

Following that attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran had made a “big mistake and it will pay for it.” 

In April, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for a strike on Tehran’s embassy in Damascus that killed two Iranian generals and other officers. Iran blames Israel for the attack.

Tensions between Iran and Israel escalated after the Palestinian Hamas movement carried out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, last year, sparking an ongoing war that has spread to Lebanon.