Israel struck military facilities in Iran

Israel unleashed a a series of pre-dawn airstrikes against military facilities in Iran on Saturday, saying the targets were facilities used to build rockets fired at Israel and sites for surface-to-air missiles.

The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war increasing violence in the Middle Eastwhere militant groups supported by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – already is in the war with Israel.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health claims that the total number of dead for the past year is more than 2,600 and 12,200 injured. Fighting in Lebanon has drove 1.2 million people from their homesincluding more than 400,000 children, according to the UN Office for Children. Israeli strikes have killed most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership since fighting intensified in September.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between militants and civilians. The Israel-Hamas war started after Hamas-led militants October 7, 2023. punched holes in Israel’s fence and stormed in, killing about 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and abducting 250 others.

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Here are the latest:

EgyptAir cancels flights to Iraq and Jordan

CAIRO — Egypt’s flagship airline has canceled Saturday flights from Cairo to Baghdad and Erbil in Iraq and Amman, Jordan.

EgyptAir attributed the flight cancellations to “ongoing events in the region.”

The flight cancellations came hours after Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on military targets in Iran before dawn.

Turkey accuses Israel of pushing the Middle East to the brink of a major war

ISTANBUL. Turkey accused Israel of “bringing our region to the brink of a bigger war” after striking Iran.

“Stopping the terror created by Israel in the region has become a historic obligation from the point of view of establishing international security and peace,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

He called on the international community to take “immediate action to enforce the law and stop the Netanyahu government.”

Turkey has been a vocal critic of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, while expressing support for Hamas.

Israeli forces are detaining people in Gaza hospitals, Palestinian health officials say

CAIRO — Israeli forces have pulled out of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza after holding people inside for several hours, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

According to the ministry, the detainees included medical staff and patients, while women were kept separately “without water and food.” The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The troops later left the hospital, leaving behind huge damage, the ministry said. Footage was circulated on the network showing the yard that was bulldozed and the wards vandalized.

According to Al-Awda Hospital, among those detained and taken away was Dr. Mohamed Obeid, head of the orthopedics department at nearby Al-Awda Hospital. His location is unknown.

The Israeli army launched a raid on a hospital located in the Beit Lahiya neighborhood on Friday as part of its week-long ground offensive in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in northern Gaza that have been rendered virtually inaccessible by the fighting.

Earlier this week, the hospital’s director told The Associated Press that the facility was facing a “catastrophic” shortage of basic equipment and that ambulances could no longer serve the site.

During the year-long war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces stormed and bombed a number of hospitals, including the largest medical facility in the strip, Shifa Hospital. Israel accuses Hamas of using medical facilities across Gaza for military purposes, a charge the militants deny.

Egypt says a ceasefire in Gaza is the only way to de-escalate tensions

CAIRO. Egypt said it was following with “great concern” the rapid and serious escalation in the region, including Israel’s attack on Iran, and warned of “serious confrontations” in the Middle East.

The Foreign Office said the Gaza ceasefire agreement “is the only means of de-escalating” tensions in the Middle East.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States led efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement in Gaza that includes the release of hostages held by Hamas as well as Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain calls for restraint

APIA, Samoa. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Iran should not respond to Israeli airstrikes and called on all parties to show restraint.

His comments at a Commonwealth summit in Samoa came after Israel attacked Iran with a series of pre-dawn airstrikes on Saturday that it said were in response to a barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired at Israel earlier this month.

Starmer said Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian aggression.

“It’s a real situation and we’re obviously monitoring it closely with our partners,” Starmer said. “We need to avoid further regional escalation and call on all parties to exercise restraint. Iran should not be held accountable. We will continue to work with our allies to de-escalate the situation in the region.”

Iran promises a response to Israel’s strikes

TEHRAN, Iran. Iran’s foreign ministry condemned Israeli attacks on military bases and said Iran would retaliate.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the attacks a clear violation of international law and the UN Charter, in particular regarding the prohibition of threats or the use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations.

The ministry emphasized Iran’s inherent right to self-defense as reflected in Article 51 of the UN Charter, saying it has an obligation to respond to external aggression.

The leader of the Israeli opposition says that the military should have hit Iran harder

JERUSALEM. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid praised the military’s work, but said Israel should have struck harder.

“The decision not to attack strategic and economic targets in Iran was wrong. We could and should have demanded a much higher price from Iran,” Lapid wrote in a post on X.

He said the air force’s actions showed its operational capabilities and that Israel’s enemies know its army is strong and can attack anywhere.

The Iranian army reports the death of two soldiers in Israeli bombings

TEHRAN, Iran. The Iranian army said two soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes.

The army’s statement was broadcast by the Arabic-language Al-Alam state television channel. The report does not specify.

Iran says Israeli strikes target military bases in 3 provinces, causing ‘limited damage’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates. Iran’s armed forces said early Saturday that Israeli strikes against the country targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces, causing “limited damage.”

The statement by Iran’s armed forces was read aloud on state television, which did not show images of the damage described. Iran’s military claimed that its air defenses limited the damage caused by the strikes, without providing further evidence.

Israel said it had carried out attacks on rocket factories and other facilities in the country.

Israel says it has completed strikes on Iran, including missile facilities

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel said early Saturday that it had ended its strikes on Iran. The Israeli military released a statement saying its planes “returned home safely.”

Its planes “struck missile factories used to produce rockets that Iran has fired at the State of Israel over the past year,” the military said. “These rockets posed a direct and immediate threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.”

It added that it also “struck surface-to-air missile teams and additional Iranian air assets that were intended to limit Israel’s freedom of air operations in Iran.” He did not offer an estimate of the damage.

Iran admitted only “limited damage” to military facilities.

The airstrikes on Iran were carried out in the early hours of Saturday ballistic missile retaliation attack on October 1, Israeli officials said. The attack, which Israel has threatened for weeks, comes as the Middle East sits on the brink of regional war more than a year after the first attack by Hamas militants to Israel Since then, Israel has launched a devastating ground offensive in Gaza and an incursion into neighboring Lebanon, targeting the militants, who are long armed and supported by Tehran.