Iran says 2 soldiers killed in Israeli airstrikes: ‘Entitled to defend ourselves’
Iran on Saturday said that two soldiers were killed in Israeli air strikes on military installations in the Islamic republic, reported Reuters. Follow LIVE updates here.
Demonstrators wave flags of Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and pictures of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during an anti-Israel rally in Tehran on October 24, 2024.(AFP)
“The army of the Islamic Republic of Iran lost two of its fighters during the night when they faced projectiles from the criminal Zionist regime in defence of its territory,” a statement carried by state television said.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said that it was conducting “precise strikes on military targets in Iran” in response to what it said were “months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran”. The strikes targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces.
This is the first time Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran, which hasn’t faced a sustained barrage of fire from a foreign enemy since its war with Iraq in the 1980s, according to PTI.
Videos carried by Iranian media showed air defences continuously firing at apparently incoming projectiles in central Tehran, without saying which sites were coming under attack.
Entitled to defend ourselves, says Iran
Iran, after emphasising that its air defences successfully countered Israle’s attack and that only some locations suffered “limited damage”, said that it was “entitled and obligated” to defend itself.
Calling the Israeli attack a violation of international law, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Tehran also “recognises its responsibilities towards regional peace and security”.
“Iran has the right and the duty to defend itself against foreign acts of aggression,” the foreign ministry said, citing Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, according to AFP.
Israel’s move comes at a time when it has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since the deadliest attack in its history in October 2023, and has been at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon since last month. The Israeli onslaught in Gaza has killed nearly 43,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, and the enclave has been largely reduced to a wasteland.
Israel’s strikes on Iran took place just as US secretary of state Antony Blinken was arriving back in the US after a tour of the Middle East where he and other US officials had warned Israel to respond in a way that would not further escalate the conflict in the region.
(Inputs from agencies)
