Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has said on Saturday it has launched dozens of drones and missiles against specific targets in Israel, Iranian state media quoted a statement by the elite force as saying.
“In response to the numerous crimes committed by the Zionist regime, including the attack on the consular section… the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired dozens of missiles and drones at specific targets inside the occupied territories (Israel),” state television quoted a Guards statement as saying.
The drones will take hours to reach their targets, Israel’s military said. The attack may trigger a major escalation between the regional archenemies, with the US pledging to back Israel.
According to IRNA’s Defense Correspondent. An IRGC statement said that its Aerospace Force fired dozens of missiles at specific Israeli targets inside the occupied territories.
The strikes are in response to numerous crimes committed by the Zionist regime, including an attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus and the martyrdom of a group of commanders and military advisors of our country in Syria, the statement added.
An Israeli military spokesman has also confirmed that the missiles and drones were fired from Iran and said that the Zionist regime has put its anti-missile systems on alert.
American and Israeli media have also confirmed that Iran has begun its attacks by firing missiles and drones
A US official was cited by Russia’s Sputnik news agency as saying that Washington was aware of the start of Iran’s retaliatory attacks.The head of the American command center in the Middle East known as CENTCOM had also reportedly left the occupied Palestinian territories.
A Zionist media outlet, cited by the Palestinian Sama news agency, however reported on Saturday night that the regime’s intelligence and military circles are confident that Iran’s target will be military installations.
Israelis have been quoted by media as saying that it may take several hours for Iranian drones to reach the occupied territories.
Iran had already pledged to punish the Zionist regime for its deadly aggression against the country’s diplomatic mission in Syria in violation of the international law and Vienna conventions.
Drones seen flying over Iraq’s Sulaymaniya
Two security sources in Iraq said dozens of drones had been spotted flying from Iran toward Israel over Iraqi airspace in what Iranian Press TV called “extensive drone strikes” by the Revolutionary Guards.
Iraq announced late on Saturday it was closing its airspace and suspending all air traffic.
“Iraq’s airspace has been closed and air traffic has been halted”, Transport Minister Razzak Al Saadawi told state news agency INA. The Civil Aviation Authority said the closure would last from 11:30pm (2030 GMT) until 5:30am (0230 GMT).
