TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel attacked military targets in Iran with a series of airstrikes before dawn on Saturday in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired at Israel earlier in the month.

The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities Iran used to manufacture the missiles fired at Israel as well as surface-to-air missiles. There were no immediate indications that oil or missile sites were hit – strikes that would have marked a much more serious escalation – and Israel did not offer an immediate damage assessment.

Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital Tehran, although the Islamic Republic insisted they caused only “limited damage” and Iranian state media played down the attacks. Iran’s army said two of its troops had been killed in the attack, Iran’s Al-Alam television reported.

Still, the strikes risk pushing the arch-enemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where Iranian-backed militant groups — including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — are already at war with Israel.

After the airstrikes, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it had the right to self-defense and “considers itself the right and duty to defend itself against foreign aggression”.

The first open Israeli attack on Iran

“Iran attacked Israel twice, including in places that threatened civilians, and has paid the price,” said Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

“We are focused on our war goals in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. It is Iran that continues to push for a broader regional escalation.”

Pictures and video released by Israel showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a black casual jacket, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meeting with military advisers and others in a conference room at a military command and control center at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.

The attacks filled the air for hours until sunrise in Iran. They marked the first time Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran, which has not faced a sustained barrage from a foreign enemy since its 1980s war with Iraq.

Israel is also believed to have been behind a limited airstrike in April near a major air base in Iran that hit the radar system of a Russian-made anti-aircraft battery.

Saturday’s attack came as part of Israel’s “duty to respond” to attacks on it by “Iran and its proxies in the region,” Hagari said.

“The Israeli Defense Forces have accomplished their mission,” Hagari said. “Should the regime in Iran make the mistake of starting another round of escalation, we will be obliged to respond.”

Israel’s attack effectively sent a message to Iran that it would not remain silent, while not taking out highly visible or symbolic facilities that could prompt a significant response from Iran, said Yoel Guzansky, a researcher at the Tel Aviv Institute for National Security Studies who previously worked for Israel’s National Security Council.

At the same time, it also gives Israel room for further escalation if needed, and the targeting of air defense systems weakens Iran’s ability to defend against future attacks, he said, adding that if there is Iranian retaliation, he expects it to be limited.

“There are more chances of Iranian restraint because of their interests, because of outside pressure and because of the nature of the Israeli attack… which allows them to save face,” he said.

Mixed reactions at home and abroad

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Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, criticized the decision to avoid “strategic and economic targets” in the attack.

“We could and should have demanded a much higher price from Iran,” Lapid wrote on X.

The US warned of further retaliation, suggesting the overnight attacks should end the direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “Iran should not respond”.

“We must avoid further regional escalation and call on all sides to exercise restraint,” he said while attending a summit in Samoa.

Saudi Arabia was one of several countries in the region to condemn the strike, calling it a violation of Iran’s “sovereignty and a violation of international laws and norms.”

The kingdom’s foreign ministry said it rejects the escalation in the region and the “expansion of the conflict that threatens the security and stability of the countries and people of the region.”

Iran-backed Hamas called the attack “an escalation that targets the security of the region and the security of its people”.

Nuclear plants and oil installations were all seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s October 1 attack, before US President Joe Biden’s administration won assurances from Israel in mid-October that it would not hit such targets, which would be a more serious escalation. .

Iran’s military said the attacks targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces, without going further.

It closed its airspace during the attack but Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said flights resumed at 9 a.m., state Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Iran’s state media acknowledged explosions that could be heard in Tehran, saying some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city. But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television for hours offered no other details.

Iran may be trying to end the escalating attacks for glamor

Iran’s move to quickly downplay the attack could offer a path for the country not to respond, preventing further escalation.

Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel in April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimal damage, and Israel – under pressure from Western countries to show restraint – responded with a limited strike that it did not openly claim.

In Lebanon, dozens were killed and thousands injured in September when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded during two days of attacks attributed to Israel. A massive Israeli airstrike the following week outside Beirut killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

On October 1, Iran fired at least 180 missiles into Israel in retaliation, sending Israelis scurrying into shelters but causing only minimal damage and a few injuries.

Netanyahu immediately said Iran had “made a big mistake”.

Israel then increased the pressure on Hezbollah by launching a ground invasion in southern Lebanon. More than a million Lebanese have been displaced and the death toll has risen sharply as the airstrikes hit in and around Beirut.

Antipathy between the two countries goes back decades

Israel and Iran have been bitter enemies since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Israel considers Iran its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, its support for anti-Israel militant groups, and its nuclear program.

During their years-long shadow war, a suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists and Iranian nuclear facilities have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels against shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

The shadow war has increasingly moved into the light since October 7, 2023, when Hamas and other militants attacked Israel. They killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages to Gaza. In response, Israel launched a devastating air and ground offensive against Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until all the hostages are freed. About a hundred remain, of whom about a third are believed to be dead.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants but say more than half of the dead have been women and children.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai and Schreck from Jerusalem. United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Abby Sewell in Beirut; Lolita C. Baldor, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington; David Rising in Bangkok; and Aamer Madhani in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report.