US INFORMED AHEAD OF STRIKES
Videos carried by Iranian media showed air defences continuously firing at apparently incoming projectiles in central Tehran, without saying which sites were coming under attack.
Tasnim reported Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bases that were attacked were not damaged and said Iran was resuming flights from 9am (5.30am GMT) after a suspension during Israel’s attack. Neighbouring Iraq was also resuming flights, its state news agency said.
Israel launched air strikes against some military sites in Syria’s central and southern parts early on Saturday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. Israel has not confirmed striking Syria.
Israel said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other security officials had closely followed the operation at the military’s command and control centre in Tel Aviv.
Gallant spoke to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin shortly after Israel’s strikes began. Austin emphasised the enhanced force posture of the United States to defend US personnel, Israel and its partners across the region, the Pentagon said.
Israel notified the United States before striking, but Washington was not involved in the operation, a US official told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia, which has mended fences with Iran after years of regional rivalry, and had been edging towards better ties with Israel before the war in Gaza, condemned the attack as a violation of Iranian sovereignty and international law.
It urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and called on the international community to take action towards de-escalation and ending conflicts in the region.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the Middle East for another attempt to broker a peace deal, said on Wednesday Israel’s retaliation should not lead to greater escalation.
Even as it sought to convince Israel to calibrate its strikes, the United States moved to reassure its closest Middle East ally that it would aid in its defence should Tehran stage a counterattack.
This included Biden’s decision to move the US military’s THAAD anti-missile defences to Israel, along with about 100 US soldiers to operate them.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, which could help cool the wider conflict, are expected to resume in Doha when negotiators fly there on Sunday. Months of talks have made little progress.
