TEHRAN: Israel said Tuesday (Jun 17) it targeted military sites in Iran and killed a senior commander in fresh strikes, prompting Tehran to fire missiles in retaliation on the fifth day of escalating clashes between the arch foes.
Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the morning, shortly after air raid sirens sounded across parts of Israel following missile launches from Iran, the Israeli military said.
The air force was “operating to intercept and strike where necessary to eliminate the threat”, the military said.
About 20 minutes later, it said people could leave shelters as police reported debris had fallen in the Tel Aviv area and the fire brigade said it was tackling a blaze in the surrounding area.
The Israeli military said it killed senior Iranian commander Ali Shamdani in an overnight strike on a “command centre in the heart of Tehran”, four days after he replaced Golam Ali Rashid, who was killed in an Israeli strike.
In a statement, the military said following “a sudden opportunity overnight, the (Israeli air force) struck a staffed command centre in the heart of Tehran and eliminated Ali Shadmani, the wartime Chief of Staff, the most senior military commander, and the closest figure to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei”.
It also said it targeted multiple missile and drone sites in west Iran, including infrastructure, launchers and storage facilities, with black-and-white footage showing some of them exploding.
Despite mounting calls to de-escalate, neither side has backed off from the missile blitz that began Friday, when Israel launched an unprecedented aerial campaign targeting Iranian nuclear and military facilities.
A new wave of Israeli strikes on Tehran – including a dramatic hit on state television’s headquarters that the broadcaster said killed three people – prompted both sides to activate missile defence systems overnight.
