A plume of smoke after Israel bombardment. Photo : Reuters
Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran on Saturday, the Israeli military said, fulfilling its vow to retaliate for an earlier Iranian attack.
The direct attack raised fears that turbulent conflicts in the Middle East could escalate into an all-out war between Israel and Iran, the region’s two most powerful militaries.
Residents of Tehran reported hearing multiple explosions in and around the Iranian capital, and Iranian state media sites said the explosions were near or at Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Maryam Naraghi, an Iranian journalist, said she heard large explosions in the eastern part of Tehran, where she lives. “It was the sound of bombs and explosions,” she said. “It was very close to where I am in the eastern part of the city.” The area includes military bases and the secretive military site Parchin.
Another Iranian journalist, Reza Rashidpour, said five massive explosions were heard in Tehran within about 10 seconds. He said Iranian air force jets had taken off in the western part of the country.
The attack early Saturday was a response to several waves of ballistic missiles that Iran launched at Israel on Oct. 1, which forced millions of Israelis to take cover in bomb shelters but did minimal damage.
Iran said it fired the missiles at Israel in response to Israel killing Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander who was with him at the time; and Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, whose assassination while in Tehran was particularly embarrassing to the regime there.
The recent exchanges between Israel and Iran have bucked both countries’ longstanding practice of avoiding direct military clashes. For years, Israel and Iran have fought each other in a shadow war involving covert operations and armed groups backed by Iran, like Hamas and Hezbollah. But the conflict between the two countries has come out into the open this year and threatens to launch a war that could embroil much of the world.
以色列對伊朗發動報復性攻擊
以色列軍方表示，以色列週六對伊朗發動了一系列空襲，履行了對伊朗早些時候襲擊進行報復的誓言。
這次直接襲擊引發了人們的擔憂，即中東動盪的衝突可能升級為該地區最強大的兩個軍隊以色列和伊朗之間的全面戰爭。
德黑蘭居民報告稱，在伊朗首都及其周邊地區聽到多起爆炸聲，伊朗官方媒體網站稱爆炸發生在伊瑪目霍梅尼國際機場附近或機場內。
伊朗記者瑪麗亞姆·納拉吉(Maryam Naraghi)表示，她在自己居住的德黑蘭東部聽到了大規模爆炸聲。 「這是炸彈和爆炸的聲音，」她說。 “它離我所在的城市東部非常近。” 該地區包括軍事基地和秘密軍事基地帕爾欽。
另一位伊朗記者禮薩·拉希德普爾 (Reza Rashidpour) 表示，德黑蘭在大約 10 秒內聽到了五次大規模爆炸。 他說，伊朗空軍飛機已在該國西部地區起飛。
週六早些時候的襲擊是對伊朗 10 月 1 日向以色列發射的幾波彈道飛彈的回應，這些飛彈迫使數百萬以色列人躲進防空洞，但造成的損失很小。
伊朗表示，向以色列發射飛彈是為了回應以色列殺害真主黨長期領導人哈桑·納斯魯拉以及當時與他在一起的伊朗革命衛隊指揮官； 哈馬斯領導人伊斯梅爾·哈尼亞 (Ismail Haniyeh) 在德黑蘭遇刺，令德黑蘭政權尤其尷尬。
以色列和伊朗最近的交往違背了兩國長期以來避免直接軍事衝突的做法。 多年來，以色列和伊朗一直在一場影子戰爭中相互交戰，涉及秘密行動和伊朗支持的武裝組織，如哈馬斯和真主黨。 但兩國之間的衝突今年已公開化，並有可能引發一場可能捲入世界大部分地區的戰爭。
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