Why has Israel attacked Iran?

 

 

Israel has carried out a series of overnight air strikes on Iran, hitting what Israel called "military targets".

 

An attack had been expected for weeks in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack on Israel.

Why did Israel attack Iran now?

Israel had vowed to hit back after Iran carried out a ballistic missile attack on Israel on 1 October. In that attack, Iran fired more than 180 missiles at Israel. Most were intercepted by Israel's air defences and US-led allied forces. Some though hit air bases and other sites. One Palestinian was killed by a falling missile casing.

 

Israel said it would retaliate, but did not say when or how. There had been constant speculation since then on the timing of an Israeli attack and what form it might take - from limited strikes to massive attacks on Iran's oil fields and nuclear sites.

 

The attack came in the early hours of Saturday and appears to have been restricted to missile manufacturing and launching sites, and what Israel called "other aerial capabilities", without being specific.

 

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Why did Iran previously attack Israel and what was Israel's response?

Iran said it attacked Israel on 1 October in retaliation for the killings of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas - Iranian-backed armed groups fighting Israel - and a senior Iranian commander.

 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Brig Gen Abbas Nilforoushan were killed when Israel bombed the building they were in in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on 27 September. Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion in the compound where he was staying on a visit to Tehran on 31 July. Iran blamed Israel for that attack, though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

 

Iran's attack was its second-ever directly against Israel. It came five months after it first attacked Israel with waves of about 300 drones and missiles. Israel said almost all were intercepted. That attack was in response to an Israeli air strike on an Iranian consulate complex in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on 1 April, which killed 13 people, including seven members of Iran's overseas Quds Force. Two of those killed were a senior Quds Force commander and his deputy. Iran said the attack was a violation of its sovereignty.

 

The Quds Force is part of Iran's most powerful armed force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

 

The IRGC channels arms and equipment, including high precision missiles, through Syria to Hezbollah.

 

Israel retaliated for Iran's missile and drone attack nearly three weeks later by attacking targets in Iran's central Isfahan region. US officials confirmed the Israeli attack, though Israel did not comment. Israeli drones are reported to have hit radar for Iran's Russian-made S-300 air defence missile system, which Israel believes would pose a particularly dangerous threat to any of its fighters planes in nearby air space.

 

The attack on the radar was considered limited and designed to signal Israel's ability to strike Iranian military assets.