Israel begins retaliatory strikes against Iran following missile barrage targeting Israelis

Israel on Friday launched a wave of retaliatory airstrikes against Iran after the Islamic Republic fired a barrage of missiles toward Israelis earlier this month.

Explosions were heard near Iran’s capital of Tehran and nearby Karaj, Reuters reported, citing local media.

The Israeli military action comes after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed a “precise and deadly” response to the more than 180 missiles Iran targeted Israel with on Oct. 1, some of which were intercepted with the help of the U.S.

Last week, during the leadup to the Israeli attack, reports emerged that the Israeli Defense Forces presented a list of potential targets to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gallant as officials conducted “sensitive coordination” with other countries in the Middle East.

ISRAEL’S UN AMBASSADOR: RESPONSE TO IRAN WILL BE ‘VERY PAINFUL’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a press conference in Tel Aviv , Israel, in October 2023. The two Israeli leaders reportedly have been presented targets to strike in Iran in response to Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile attack on Israel. (Reuters/Pool)

“The regime is vulnerable, and it’s up to us to decide which message we want to send to them,” Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon also told Fox News Digital. “It will be very painful for the Iranian regime, and they will think twice in the future whether to attack Israel or not.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the barrage of missiles it fired at Israel on Oct. 1 was in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, in an Israeli airstrike and the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. Israel later eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a military operation in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 16.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously called Nasrallah “the flag-bearer of resistance” in the region.

“The blood of the martyr shall not go unavenged,” Khamenei said following Nasrallah’s death, according to Reuters.

ISRAEL DECIDES ON POSSIBLE IRAN TARGETS: ‘PRECISE AND DEADLY’

Residents of Jerusalem took shelter during an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1, 2024. (Credit Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)

During the Oct. 1 attack by Iran, no casualties were reported in Israel, though one Palestinian was killed in the West Bank.

The U.S. Navy later released video showing the USS Cole and USS Bulkeley firing about a dozen ballistic missile interceptors to help thwart Iranian aggression.

Iran also attacked Israel in April of this year, during which it levied some 300 missiles and drones. Jerusalem then responded to Western calls for restraint by hitting Iran’s air defenses and destroying part of an S-300 long-range air defense system.