The Latest: Iran launches retaliatory strikes on Israel, killing at least 3 people
Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes on Israel into Saturday morning, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, after a series of blistering Israeli attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear program and its armed forces.
Israel's assault used warplanes, as well as drones smuggled into the country in advance, to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.
Israel said the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building an atomic weapon, although experts and the U.S. government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon before the strikes. It also threw talks between the United States and Iran over an atomic accord into disarray days before the two sides were set to meet Sunday.
___
Here's the latest:
Woman dies in missile strike in Tel Aviv, hospital says
A spokesperson for Beilinson Hospital in Tel Aviv said a woman was killed in an Iranian missile strike, bringing the total number of fatalities in the barrages from Iran to three.
The hospital also treated seven people who were wounded in the strike early Saturday. Israel's Fire and Rescue Services said a projectile hit a building in the city.
Israel's paramedic service says 2 people killed when missile hit central Israel
Israel's paramedic service Magen David Adom says an Iranian missile struck near homes in central Israel early Saturday morning, killing two people and injuring 19 others. Israel's Fire and Rescue service said four homes were severely damaged.
UN chief calls for escalation to stop, saying 'peace and diplomacy must prevail'
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Iran to halt their attacks on one another, while calling for diplomacy.
'Israeli bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites. Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv. Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,' Guterres wrote on X on Saturday.
Iranian media reports a fire at Tehran's airport
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency is reporting a fire at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, posting a video on X of a column of smoke and orange flames rising from what the outlet said was the airport.
A handful of minor injuries reported from second wave of Iranian missiles
Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv said it has treated seven people hurt by the second Iranian barrage; six had light injuries and the seventh was moderately wounded.
Iran fires a second wave of missiles at Israel
Sirens and the boom of explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, could be heard in the sky over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv early Saturday.
AP journalists in Tel Aviv could see what appeared to be at least two Iranian missiles hit the ground, but there was no immediate word of casualties.
The Israeli military said another long-range Iranian missile attack was taking place and urged civilians, already rattled by the first wave of projectiles, to head to shelter. Around three dozen people were wounded by that first wave.
The Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close links with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said a fresh wave was being launched.
Iranian air defenses are firing against Israeli attacks
The sound of explosions and Iranian air defense systems firing at targets was echoing across the center of the capital, Tehran, shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Additionally, an Associated Press reporter could hear air raid sirens near their home.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
12 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Why some key Tehran allies are staying out of the Israel-Iran conflict
BEIRUT — Hezbollah has long been considered Iran's first line of defense in case of a war with Israel. But since Israel launched its massive barrage against Iran this week, the Lebanese militant group has stayed out of the fray. A network of powerful Iran-backed militias in Iraq has also remained mostly quiet — even though Israel allegedly used Iraq's airspace, in part, to carry out the attacks. Domestic political concerns, as well as tough losses suffered in nearly two years of regional conflicts and upheavals, appear to have led these Iran allies to take a backseat in the latest round convulsing the region. Hezbollah was formed with Iranian support in the early 1980s as a guerrilla force fighting against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon at the time. The militant group helped push Israel out of Lebanon and built its arsenal over the ensuing decades, becoming a powerful regional force and the centerpiece of a cluster of Iranian-backed factions and governments known as the ' Axis of Resistance.' The allies also include Iraqi Shiite militias and Yemen's Houthi rebels, as well as the Palestinian militant group Hamas. At one point, Hezbollah was believed to have some 150,000 rockets and missiles, and the group's former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, once boasted of having 100,000 fighters. Seeking to aid its ally Hamas in the aftermath of the Palestinian militants' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and Israel's offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah began launching rockets across the border. That drew Israeli airstrikes and shelling, and the exchanges escalated into full-scale war last September. Israel inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah, killing Nasrallah and other top leaders and destroying much of its arsenal, before a U.S.-negotiated ceasefire halted that conflict last November. Israel continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon and to carry out near-daily airstrikes. For their part, the Iraqi militias occasionally struck bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, while Yemen's Houthis fired at vessels in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and began targeting Israel. Hezbollah and its leader, Naim Kassem, have condemned Israel's attacks and offered condolences for the senior Iranian officers who were killed. But Kassem did not suggest Hezbollah would take part in any retaliation against Israel. Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah militia — a separate group from Lebanon's Hezbollah — released a statement saying it was 'deeply regrettable' that Israel allegedly fired at Iran from Iraqi airspace, something that Baghdad complained to the U.N. Security Council over. The Iraqi militia called on the Baghdad government to 'urgently expel hostile forces from the country,' a reference to U.S. troops in Iraq as part of the fight against the militant Islamic State group, but made no threat of force. Hezbollah was weakened by last year's fighting and after losing a major supply route for Iranian weapons with the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally, in a lightning rebel offensive in December. 'Hezbollah has been degraded on the strategic level while cut off from supply chains in Syria,' said Andreas Krieg, a military analyst and associate professor at King's College London. Many Hezbollah members believe 'they were sacrificed for Iran's greater regional interests' since Hamas' attack on Israel triggered the latest Israel-Hamas war, and want to focus on 'Lebanon-centric' interests rather than defending Iran, Krieg said. Still, Qassem Qassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah, said a role for the militant group in the Israel-Iran conflict should not be ruled out. 'This depends on political and field developments,' he said. 'Anything is possible.' Both the Houthis and the Iraqi militias 'lack the strategic deep strike capability against Israel that Hezbollah once had,' Krieg said. Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London, said Iraq's Iran-allied militias have all along tried to avoid pulling their country into a major conflict. Unlike Hezbollah, whose military wing has operated as a non-state actor in Lebanon — although its political wing is part of the government — the main Iraqi militias are members of a coalition of groups that are officially part of the state defense forces. 'Things in Iraq are good for them right now, they're connected to the state — they're benefitting politically, economically,' Mansour said. 'And also they've seen what's happened to Iran, to Hezbollah and they're concerned that Israel will turn on them as well.' That leaves the Houthis as the likely 'new hub in the Axis of Resistance,' Krieg said. But he said the group isn't strong enough — and too geographically removed — to strategically harm Israel beyond the rebels' sporadic missile attacks. Krieg said the perception that the 'axis' members were proxies fully controlled by Iran was always mistaken, but now the ties have loosened further. 'It is not really an axis anymore as [much as] a loose network where everyone largely is occupied with its own survival,' he said. Sewell writes for the Associated Press.
Associated Press
17 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Israelis are uneasy as they prepare for more Iranian missiles
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A palpable tension settled over an eerily quiet Tel Aviv on Saturday as residents anticipated another round of missiles to be fired from Iran, which is under intense attack from the Israeli military. Iran's retaliatory strikes late Friday — a barrage of drones and missiles mostly shot down by Israel's defenses — killed at least three people in the greater Tel Aviv area, and wounded dozens. Most stores and restaurants were closed the next day across the Mediterranean city, though some ice cream shops remained open. A smattering of people gathered with friends in parks, while staying close to public bomb shelters. Tel Aviv's beaches, normally packed, had fewer sunbathers. Uneasy Israelis huddled over their phones for updates about the escalating conflict with Iran, while still trying to go about their lives and enjoy a bit of sunshine. 'It just feels very unknown,' said Lindsay Schragen, an architect in Tel Aviv. After more than 20 months of war between Israel and Hamas, Israelis are used to government requests for them to go to bomb shelters when sirens are activated. But those episodes usually last about 10 minutes, whereas conflict with the much more powerful Iranian army means attacks last significantly longer, requiring families to spend hours in bomb shelters. Still, many people expressed gratitude for Israel's early warning systems, including cellphone notifications, and the robust shelter infrastructure in the city. Schragen, who moved to Israel from New Jersey eight years ago, said it was difficult for her family and friends in the U.S. to understand how she spent the night dashing for a bomb shelter and then the next afternoon hanging with friends in the park. 'My mom keeps calling me and asking if I'm in the shelter, but no, I'm here, outside,' she said. 'Somehow we're able to preserve some normalcy.' Over the decades, Israel has developed a sophisticated air defense system capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn't 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties. Israel's attack on Iran was much more intense and caused significantly more damage. Israel said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days killed a number of top generals, nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran's nuclear program. Iran's U.N. ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded. Israel said the surprise attack was necessary before Iran got any closer to building an atomic weapon. The Israeli attack threw into disarray talks between the United States and Iran over Tehran's rapidly developing nuclear program. As the Iranian attack ensued, hospitals across Israel moved intensive-care patients into underground parking lots converted for such emergencies. Sheba Medical Center, in Ramat Gan, has room for hundreds of patients in its underground facility east of Tel Aviv. Over the past 48 hours, the hospital has moved dozens of patients, including premature babies, into the protected underground area. 'I told my wife I never want my child to be born into such a reality,' said Eliran Bar, the father of a three-week-old premature baby in the intensive care unit. 'I really hope it will end soon.' Saturday was mostly quiet in Israel, though many people were preparing for another night of missiles. Shaun Katz, a 32-year-old lawyer from Tel Aviv, packed a bag with camping mattresses, water bottles, and bananagrams, his favorite game, to pass the time. 'We don't know how this goes on or how it plays out, but this may have been the best chance to neutralize the Iranian threat,' Katz said. 'I usually would take the option to de-escalate, but I don't know if that option is on the table, and this may be the best chance we've got to stop them from getting a nuclear weapon.' Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, though its uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, according to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. Others in the Tel Aviv area, where several buildings were destroyed, were more worried about what comes next. 'My wife, she is Israeli, she's very, very anxious and she wants to leave as soon as possible,' said Howard Alansteen, an American living in Israel. 'She's talking about going over the bridge to Jordan. She was talking about getting on a ferry to Cyprus. She's taking about going to Eliat. She is really upset.' Zhenya Kuperman, a 20-year-old chef from Givatayim, a suburb east of Tel Aviv, said she had many friends who were too scared to leave their homes all day, but it helped her to come out and see people. 'Even with all the pressure, all we need is to be together,' she said.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Iran Conflict Ensnares Energy as Israel Hits Giant Gas Field
(Bloomberg) -- The unfolding Middle East crisis extended to Iran's energy infrastructure as Israel launched an attack on a giant gas field in the Persian Gulf, threatening further turmoil for markets. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban Do World's Fairs Still Matter? As Part of a $45 Billion Push, ICE Prepares for a Vast Expansion of Detention Space Israel's strike on Saturday triggered a powerful explosion and fire at a natural gas processing facility linked to Iran's giant South Pars field. The hit on the onshore Phase 14 processing plant forced the shut down of a production platform at the field, according to a report from the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The targeting of energy assets represents a new front in the conflict, which erupted on Friday when Israel launched a wave of attacks directed at the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. While the damage to the gas facility may be confined to Iran's domestic energy system, the escalation may nonetheless provoke further swings in oil futures when trading resumes after the weekend. Also read: Israel Extends Iran Airstrikes as Nuclear Talks Called Off The attack heightens the risk to oil infrastructure in Iran, OPEC's third-biggest producer, and to shipments from elsewhere in the region. US crude prices surged as much as 14% on Friday, before settling near $73 a barrel. 'It's going to be pretty significant,' Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd., said of Saturday's attacks. 'We appear to be in an escalatory cycle,' and there will be 'questions about whether Israel is going to target more Iranian energy infrastructure,' he added. South Pars, the world's largest gas field, is shared between Iran and neighboring Qatar, where it's known as the North Field. Iran's gas is mainly for domestic use and is not widely exported, with South Pars providing roughly two-thirds of the country's supplies. The fire at the facility at Phase 14 halted production from one of its offshore platforms, amounting to 12 million cubic meters per day, Tasnim reported. Firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to other units, it said. A separate fire also broke out at the Fajr Jam gas plant, which processes fuel from South Pars as well as the Nar and Kangan fields and is one of Iran's largest processing facilities, Tasnim reported. Also read: Oil Market Long Numb to War Risk Confronts Weekend of Worry The strikes could further cripple Iran's wobbling energy industry. The country has been facing some of the worst power outages in decades that have hit large swathes of the economy, pushing a country rich in energy resources further into crisis. Blackouts cost the economy about $250 million a day, according to estimates from the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture. 'Israel is looking for economic targets, but at least in this stage trying to limit the impact and the knock-on effects for international markets' to avoid alienating allies, Bronze said. An official cause wasn't given for the blaze at Fajr Jam, but initial assessments pointed to hostile drones, Tasnim reported. Iran has developed a vast network of gas-processing and chemical plants onshore around the port of Assaluyeh on the country's southern coast. The facilities linked to the offshore production sites are also vital for export of condensate, a light oil-like liquid usually produced with gas. Iran mainly ships condensate to China. Iran exports some gas to Iraq and has also shipped to Turkey in the past, but the country has never been able to secure the investment needed to complete liquefied natural gas terminals that would allow it to widely export the fuel. 'This is a significant escalation,' said Jorge Leon, an analyst at Rystad Energy A/S who previously worked at the OPEC secretariat, said of the onslaught on Saturday. 'This is probably the most important attack on oil and gas infrastructure since Abqaiq,' Leon said, referring to the 2019 strike that briefly crippled one of Saudi Arabia's key oil-processing plants. American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years As Companies Abandon Climate Pledges, Is There a Silver Lining? US Tariffs Threaten to Derail Vietnam's Historic Industrial Boom ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
