Strife between Israel and Iran escalated on Sunday as the two countries exchanged direct missile attacks for a third day in a row, in a sharp departure from years of covert warfare and proxy war.
Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israel, one of which allegedly hit a residential apartment building on the Mediterranean coast, local firefighters reported. Israel responded with strikes on dozens of surface-to-surface missile launch sites in western Iran, they said.
This continuing war is the most public confrontation between the two regional foes in decades and has been raising concerns over an all-out conflict throughout West Asia. Both sides have taken heavy civilian casualties. Israeli emergency services report at least 10 killed in the recent Iranian attack, taking the nation’s death toll to 13, with 380 others wounded since Friday.
In a visit to the missile-struck location in Bat Yam just outside Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran for attacking civilians. “Iran will have a very heavy price to pay for the premeditated killing of civilians, women and children,” he stated.
Iran launched its air defence systems in Tehran and in Kermanshah, in the west, in reaction to the Israeli missile attacks, Iranian media reported.
Adding to the high-stakes escalation, Netanyahu told Fox News that Israeli forces had targeted and killed Iran’s top intelligence officer, Mohammad Kazemi, along with his deputy in Tehran. “Our brave pilots are over the skies of Tehran, and we’re targeting military sites, nuclear sites,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli army also said it had hit an Iranian refuelling plane in Mashhad — its most distant strike so far within Iran, about 2,300 kilometers from Israel. Video circulating online depicting black smoke billowing in the city, but it is yet to be confirmed by Iranian officials.
