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.
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