Israel attacks Iran, explosions heard around Tehran

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Doron Kadosh, a reporter with Israel’s army radio, has cited an unnamed source who stated that the Israeli attacks “are expected to continue for several more hours.”

Kadosh added that Israel is preparing for additional strikes and implementing defensive measures in case of a potential Iranian response.

The Washington Post, also referencing an unnamed source familiar with Israel’s military planning, reported that the Israeli “target list contains military assets, particularly missile manufacturing facilities and aerial defense sites."

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose network of pro-Iran factions, claimed responsibility early Saturday for a drone attack against a "military target" in northern Israel, following the announcement of Israeli strikes on Iran.

"Islamic Resistance fighters in Iraq carried out a drone attack at dawn on Saturday against a military target in Acre," in northern Israel, the group said in a statement on Telegram.

Iran is prepared to respond to any Israeli "aggression", Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Saturday, citing sources.

"There is no doubt that Israel will face a proportional reaction for any action it takes," Tasnim quoted the sources as saying.

Israel's attack on Iran is ongoing and is expected to be a one-night affair, ABC News reported early on Saturday in the Middle East and late Friday hours in the United States.

ABC cited one source, who also said there were no Israeli casualties or damage to war planes reported thus far.

Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency has shared a video of what it says are Iranian air defence systems being activated over the capital Tehran.

Air defense systems activated in Tehran pic.twitter.com/nRRFb9xxFO

— Mehr News Agency (@MehrnewsCom) October 26, 2024

Iranian state TV said Saturday that the blasts heard around the capital were due to the "activation of the air defense system" against an Israeli attack.

"The loud blasts heard around Tehran were related to the activation of the air defense system against the actions of Zionist regime which attacked three locations outside of Tehran city," state TV reported, citing officials of the Tehran province air defense.

The Iranian media is reporting four new explosions have rocked the capital Tehran amid Israel's attacks on the country. This follows at least seven "strong and loud" explosions earlier this morning in the capital, as well as explosions in Karaj and Shiraz.

It is not known if the explosions are due to the triggering of Iranian air defences by Israeli missiles or by the Israeli missiles hitting targets - it could be both.

Iraq's transport ministry suspended flights across all airports until further notice "due to regional tensions," the Iraqi state news agency INA reported after the Israeli military said it conducted strikes against Iranian targets early on Saturday.

An Israeli airstrike targeted some military sites in Syria's central and southern parts early on Saturday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Syrian air defense forces intercepted missiles launched by Israel "from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese territories" and shot down some of them, SANA added.

Earlier on Saturday, SANA reported explosions in the vicinity of Syria's capital Damascus.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since it began its war on Gaza.

Israel also attacked Iran in two waves of attacks early on Saturday, with its military saying it was conducting strikes against military targets and Iranian media reporting multiple explosions. 

Israel’s Channel 12 reports that the “second wave” of Israel’s attack on Iran has begun, with explosions reported in the south-central city of Shiraz.

The channel provided no additional details, and there has been no official confirmation.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has issued a video statement confirming that Israeli forces are “conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran.”

“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,” he stated in a post on X.

“Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond,” Hagari added.

He further emphasised that Israel’s “defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilised

US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said the "targeted strikes on military targets" are "an exercise of self-defence and in response to Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1."

Iranian media said Saturday there were no fires or explosions reported at a key Tehran refinery.

"There are no reports of fire or explosions at a Tehran refinery," Tasnim news agency reported, referring to a key oil refinery south of the capital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are in an underground room at the Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, the Israel Hayom newspaper reports.

The report came after Israel said it had attacked targets in Tehran.

A Tehran resident has told The Associated Press news agency that at least seven explosions could be heard around the Iranian capital, which rattled the surrounding area.

Israel hit back at Iran early on Saturday, with its military saying it was conducting strikes against military targets in response to Tehran's attacks on Israel.

The Middle East has been on edge in anticipation of Israeli retaliation for a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on Oct. 1, in which around 200 ballistic missiles were fired at Israel, following Israel's strike on Tehran that killed Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

"In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel – right now the Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Israel says it has the right and duty to respond to attacks from Tehran and its proxies, which have included missile strikes launched from Iranian soil.

"Our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized," it added.

The scope of the attack was not immediately clear.

Iran's state TV said several strong explosions were heard around the capital Tehran. Semi-official Iranian media said explosions were also heard in the nearby city of Karaj.

The Tasnim news agency said that "nothing has been reported about hearing the sound of rockets or airplanes in the sky of Tehran so far".

State TV cited unnamed Iranian intelligence officials as saying that the origin of the loud explosions "could be from the activation of Iran's air defense system."

Iranian authorities have repeatedly warned Israel against launching an attack, saying any strike on Iran would be met with a stronger retaliation.

The United States was notified by Israel ahead of its strikes on targets in Iran but was not involved in the operation, a U.S. official told Reuters.

The head of the World Health Organization has provided an update on conditions at Kamal Adwan Hospital following an attack by Israeli forces.

“Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is still under siege, but we managed to get in touch with the staff. Three health workers and another employee have been injured, 44 health workers have been detained, and four ambulances damaged. Around 600 patients, health workers, and individuals are currently sheltering in the hospital,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared on X.

“We urge for hospitals, health workers, and patients to be protected. Ceasefire!”

The health ministry in Gaza said on Friday that two children had died at the last functioning hospital in the territory's north after Israeli fire hit oxygen equipment.

"Two children have died in the intensive care unit after the hospital's generators failed and the oxygen station was targeted," said a health ministry statement about the Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, adding that Israeli "forces are searching the hospital and shooting inside the various departments". The military told AFP it was "checking" the reports.

President Joe Biden formally apologized on Friday for the U.S. government's role in running abusive Native American boarding schools for more than 150 years, and was heckled at the event over his support for Israel's war in Gaza.

"This to me is one of the most consequential things I've ever had an opportunity to do in my whole career," Biden said in his apology at an outdoor football and track field in Laveen Village, Arizona, near Phoenix.

"It's a sin on our soul. ... I formally apologize."

Several hundred people attended, many of them in traditional tribal dress. They cheered as Biden apologized for the generational trauma faced by the Native American community due to the boarding schools across the country.

Biden faced a brief interruption when a pro-Palestinian protester shouted: "How can you apologize for a genocide while committing a genocide in Palestine?"

The president replied, "There is a lot of innocent people being killed and it has to stop."

The Israeli army said Friday that a strike that killed three journalists in south Lebanon was "under review".

"Several hours after the strike, reports were received that journalists had been hit during the strike. The incident is under review," the military said in a statement to AFP, referring to the strike in Hasbaya.

The French medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has condemned the death of one of its staff members during an extensive Israeli assault on Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

“MSF denounces in the strongest possible terms the killing of our colleague, Hasan Suboh, on October 24 at night during Israeli military operations in Khan Younis,” the organization stated.

According to the health ministry, Thursday’s attack claimed the lives of at least 38 people, including 14 children.

“This is our eighth colleague killed in Gaza since October 7 2023 – and the second in two weeks. Through its war on Gaza, Israel continues to show a fundamental disregard for civilian lives. This must stop now.”

Suboh, 41, was married with seven children. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones and with our colleagues in Gaza,” MSF added.

Lebanese authorities said Friday that more than half a million people, mostly Syrians, had crossed into Syrian territory since Israel began heavily striking Lebanon late last month in all-out war with Hezbollah.

Since September 23, Lebanon has "recorded the crossing of 348,237 Syrian citizens and 156,505 Lebanese citizens into Syrian territory", a statement from the Lebanese disaster management unit said.

Doctors without Borders (MSF) condemned the killing of one of its workers, Hasan Suboh, on Thursday night in an Israeli attack on Khan Younis.

MSF said that according to Gaza's Ministry of Health 33 people, including 14 children, were killed in the attack.

Hasan had been working with MSF since 2019. Aged 41, he was married and had 7 children.

Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones, and with our colleagues in Gaza.

— MSF UK (@MSF_uk) October 25, 2024

Gaza's civil defence agency said Friday that 12 people were killed by Israeli drone strikes that hit a group of Palestinians waiting to receive aid in the territory's north.

"Civil defence teams retrieved 12 martyrs and several injured individuals after Israeli drone strikes targeted a group of citizens and a vehicle waiting for aid," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said, adding that the drones struck near the Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from the military.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said its fighters attacked Israeli troops on Friday in two areas of south Lebanon close to the border.

Fighters targeted soldiers on the outskirts of Adaysseh "with a guided missile" and then attacked a troop vehicle that came to their assistance, a statement said, adding separately that Hezbollah operatives in the nearby Hula area hit an Israeli tank and fired "automatic weapons, artillery shells and rockets" at accompanying troops.

A squadron of US air force F-16s has arrived to the Middle East according to an announcement by US Central Command (CENTCOM).

In a post on X CENTCOM said that "U.S. Air Force F-16s from the 480th Fighter Squadron based at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany arrive in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility." 

U.S. Air Force F-16s from the 480th Fighter Squadron based at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany arrive in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. pic.twitter.com/myt8uWySX9

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 25, 2024

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday said it would replace one of its judges on health grounds, in a move that could further delay a decision on the prosecution's request to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(Reuters)

Hezbollah said its fighters hit two Israeli tanks near a south Lebanon village on Friday, after earlier claiming they hit another tank elsewhere along the border.

Hezbollah fighters hit "two Merkava tanks on the outskirts of Adaysseh with guided missiles", the group said, after earlier saying fighters had struck another tank near the village of Marwahin.

Two people were killed in a strike on Majd al-Krum in northern Israel, Israeli media said on Friday, following a statement from Hezbollah saying that it targeted the northern Israeli town of Karmiel with a large missile salvo.

(Reuters)

Lebanon's Hezbollah said its fighters launched a drone attack on Friday targeting a military base in northern Israel, near the border, after claiming rocket fire at the same area.

Hezbollah fighters launched "an air attack with a swarm of explosives-laden drones" on the base located east of Safed, the group said in a statement, shortly after announcing it had fired "a salvo of rockets" at the town.

The World Health Organization said it had lost contact on Friday with staff at northern Gaza's last functioning hospital, after the Israeli army said it was operating in the area.

Gaza's health ministry said hundreds of patients and staff were detained at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

"Since this morning's reports of a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, we have lost touch with the personnel there," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

"This development is deeply disturbing, given the number of patients being served and people sheltering there."

Tedros said the WHO and partner agencies had reached the hospital late on Wednesday night and managed to transfer 23 patients and 26 caregivers to the Palestinian territory's main Al-Shifa Hospital.

"Kamal Adwan Hospital has been overflowing with close to 200 patients - a constant stream of horrific trauma cases. It is also full of hundreds of people seeking shelter," said Tedros.

"Accessing hospitals across Gaza is getting unbelievably harder and exposes our staff to unnecessary danger."

He called for an immediate ceasefire and the protection of hospitals, patients, health professionals and humanitarians.

The Israeli army said Friday that three of its soldiers were killed in combat in north Gaza.

An army statement said the soldiers "fell during combat in northern Gaza", bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza campaign to 361 since the start of ground operations in the territory last year.

The UN rights chief said the "darkest moment" of the conflict in Gaza was unfolding in the north of the territory, warning Friday that Israel's actions could amount to "atrocity crimes".

"Unimaginably, the situation is getting worse by the day. The Israeli government's policies and practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity," Volker Turk said in a statement.

Israel's airstrikes on a Lebanese border crossing with Syria is jeopardising the main escape route for people trying to flee the conflict in Lebanon, the United Nations said Friday.

"This is hindering and really putting at risk a main lifeline that people use to escape the conflict in Lebanon and cross into Syria," Rula Amin, Middle East spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, told a media briefing in Geneva.

At least nine Palestinians killed by an Israeli air strike on the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, medics said on Friday.

Several injuries have also been reported,

British Airways on Friday said it was extending its suspension of flights from London to Tel Aviv until the end of March next year.

The airline, which had a daily return service from London Heathrow to Ben Gurion Airport, announced earlier this month that it had stopped flights until this Saturday.

BA was one of a number of international carriers to ground flights due to growing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

With continued tensions in the Middle East, the company said in a statement on Friday: "We've suspended our flights to Tel Aviv out to the end of March next year.

"This will give greater certainty to our customers who we're contacting to advise them of their options, including a full refund."

The World Health Organization said on Friday it hoped to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine to children in northern Gaza from next week, after Israeli bombing had halted the drive.

The vaccination campaign began on September 1 after the Palestinian territory confirmed its first case of polio in 25 years.

A first round of inoculation was completed and the second round - essential to build up immunity - began as scheduled on October 14, first in central Gaza, then the south, aided by so-called humanitarian pauses in the fighting.

"We still have good hopes that we can do this campaign," Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, said on Friday.

"We have this window between October 28 and November 5 and I'm confident that it will happen. We need access to children, wherever they are," he told a Geneva press briefing, via video-link from the Gaza Strip.

"It is critically important to finish. Everyone realises that - and all the parties of this conflict as well.

"We owe it to the children to finish this," he said, voicing fears that the virus might spread beyond the war-destroyed territory's borders.

United Nations peacekeepers said Friday that Israeli soldiers fired at one of their observation posts in south Lebanon this week, adding the security situation was "extremely challenging" amid other unidentified attacks.

On Tuesday, "(Israeli army) soldiers fired at" an observation post near the border village of Dhayra, a statement from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said, adding "the duty guards withdrew to avoid being shot."

The Israeli military confirmed on Friday that it had struck a border crossing between Syria and Lebanon that it said was being used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons.

"Overnight ... the IAF (air force) struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites at the Jousieh border crossing in the northern Bekaa area (of Lebanon), the military said in a statement, adding that Hezbollah "exploits the Jousieh civilian crossing, which is under the control of the Syrian regime and is operated by Syrian military security, to transfer weapons."

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday said the international community must speed up efforts for a political solution in Lebanon to prevent fighting betwen Israel and Hezbollah spiralling into a "conflagration".

"We are currently engaged in a race against time between the possible start of a political process in Lebanon and a generalised conflagration with incalculable consequences," Borrell said in a statement.

Lebanon's health minister said on Friday that more than 160 rescuers and health workers had been killed in Israeli strikes, during more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

"The total number of rescuers and health sector workers killed has so far has reached 163, with 272 others wounded," Firass Abiad told reporters during a press conference detailing "damage caused by Israeli attacks on the health sector in Lebanon".

Lebanon's prime minister accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists after a strike in the country's south on Friday killed three media workers, in what he called a "war crime".

"The new Israeli aggression targeting journalists" was among the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy", Najib Mikati said in a statement, adding the attack was "deliberate" and "aims to terrorise the media to cover up crimes and destruction".

Jordan's foreign minister on Friday called for pressure on Israel to end "ethnic cleansing", in strong remarks as he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London.

Deploring the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, Ayman Safadi told Blinken: "We do see ethnic cleansing taking place, and that has got to stop."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday there was a real sense of urgency to reach a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon following Israel's military operations in the country.

"We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along border between Israel and Lebanon," Blinken said in London.

He said it was important so "people at both sides of the border can have the confidence to be able to return to their homes"

(Reuters)

Israel's military on Friday said its air force intercepted a drone that entered the country's north from the direction of Syria.

"Following the sirens that sounded between 11:08 and 11:17 in the Upper Galilee area and southern Golan Heights," the air force intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle "that crossed into Israel from the direction of Syria", the military said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Lebanon's prime minister to discuss Israel's strikes on the country as Washington presses the Beirut government to take charge against Hezbollah.

Blinken, on his way back from a Middle East tour, met in London with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who came in from a conference on Lebanon in Paris the day before.

The two smiled before the cameras but made no remarks.

Reports are emerging that Israeli soldiers stormed north Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday morning.

According to Al Jazeera, the Israeli army surrounded the hospital on Thursday night, firing shells into the building and damaging the ICU and emergency department.

Al Jazeera also added that the Israeli army is conducting mass arrests of men inside the hospital, taking them to unknown locations for interrogations.

Lebanon's Information Minister Ziad Makary accused Israel on Friday of intentionally targeting journalists in a strike on the country's south that killed three journalists, which he described as a "war crime".

"The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists' nighttime break to betray them in their sleep... This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with prior planning and design, as there were 18 journalists there representing seven media institutions. This is a war crime," Makary said in a post on X.

Lebanon's Transport minister said Friday that Israeli bombing put a second border crossing between the country and Syria out of service - leaving one official passage between the two nations operational.

"The Qaa crossing has been put out of service after an Israeli strike on Syrian territory, hundreds of metres from Syrian border guards," Ali Hamieh told AFP, adding that the strike blocked the passage of vehicles.

The Israeli army said on Friday that five soldiers were killed and two others seriously wounded in fighting in southern Lebanon.

The soldiers "fell during combat in southern Lebanon" the previous day, the army said in a statement, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon to 32 since the start of the ground operation on 30 September.