Israeli military completes targeted airstrikes against Iranian military facilities

ISTANBUL

The Israeli military announced Saturday that it had completed targeted airstrikes on Iranian military facilities.

The army said the airstrikes targeted missile manufacturing facilities believed to have produced missiles that were launched at Israel over the last year.

The strikes were in response to recent missile attacks by Tehran on Israel.

In conjunction with the strikes, the military also targeted surface-to-air missile systems and other Iranian aerial assets, which were intended to impede Israel's operational capabilities within Iranian airspace, it stressed.

"The operation was successfully executed, with all aircraft returning safely to base," it added.

The military indicated that it possesses a range of offensive capabilities, some of which were utilized in the strikes on Saturday that targeted strategic assets deep within Iran.

"I can now confirm that we have concluded the Israeli response to Iran’s attacks against Israel," Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a video statement. "We conducted targeted and precise strikes on military targets in Iran, thwarting immediate threats to the state of Israel.”

He added that the Israeli army “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.

Israeli media reported that over 100 Israeli fighter jets took part in the attack on Iran.

- Iran 'ready' to retaliate

Before Israel announced its attacks, Iran said that it was ready to retaliate against Israeli "aggression."

"There is no doubt that Israel will receive the appropriate response to any action it takes," the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing sources.

The agency also cited official sources saying that "Israel's claims of 100 military aircraft participating in the attack are entirely false, as Israel aims to exaggerate the scale of its weak assault."

The US said earlier that Israel "is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st."

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi