Israeli strikes on Iran hit military sites, targets in residential areas

ISTANBUL

In its strikes on Iran early Friday, Israel hit both strategic and military targets and killed key commanders and scientists.

The main targets in the strikes include the residences of some high-ranking commanders of the Iranian Army and the Revolutionary Guard Corps as well as the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility, which is Iran's key enrichment facility, Iranian media reported.

The attacks also targeted the residences of some high-ranking scientists involved in Iran's nuclear program.

Radar, air defense systems targeted

The Subashi radar site, one of Iran's most important radar centers in the country, in the country’s western Hamedan province, plus military and radar centers in the Kermanshah province and military facilities in the Lorestan province are among the sites targeted by the strikes.

In Tabriz, the Seydava Military Barracks, radar systems around the city, and other strategic points were also targeted.

In the southwestern Khuzestan Province, some important centers in the oil-rich region, including the border gate to Iraq, were targeted.

The Israeli strikes began around 3 a.m. local time (2330GMT) and targeted both military and nuclear facilities, as well as residential areas, said Iranian media.

Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Gen. Hossein Salami, chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and senior IRGC commander Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, head of the central headquarters of the Iranian military, were all killed in the strikes.

The attacks also claimed the lives of prominent Iranian nuclear scientists, including Fereydoon Abbasi, Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, and Abdolhamid Minoucher.

Abbasi, a former lawmaker, previously survived a 2010 assassination attempt.