Israel on Friday morning attacked Iran with a retaliatory strike, as explosions were reported near a military base in Isfahan, central Iran early Friday morning.
The Tasnim news agency reported that nuclear sites in the province of Isfahan are “absolutely safe,” denying foreign media reports about an incident at a nuclear site in Isfahan. ABC News reported, citing a US official, that Israel delivered a missile strike on a “facility in Iran.”
Iran’s news agency Mehr reported that the sound of several explosions was heard in Iran’s Isfahan province in the early hours of Friday. The sound of explosions was heard at around 4:00 AM in the northern and eastern regions of Isfahan. According to Mehr, the blasts were the result of the air defense systems firing at an incoming attack.
اشتباكات بين الدفاعات الجوية الإيرانية والصواريخ الاسرائيلية في شرق أصفهان قبل قليل pic.twitter.com/0xauXFhibW
— محمد مجيد الأحوازي (@MohamadAhwaze) April 19, 2024
The Israeli attack fell on the 85th birthday (according to the secular calendar) of Iran’s supreme leader, Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, answering the age-old question, what to get a man who has everything.
L’havdil, the attack also fell on the 122nd birthday (according to the Hebrew calendar) of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson Ztz’l, who would have been delighted with the news of the attack, but probably wonder why so little and so late.
Also on Friday, according to Mehr, the air defense systems in the Vadi-e-Rahmat region of Tabriz fired at a suspicious flying object.
According to the Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, three explosions took place near the Isfahan Air Force Base.
Three Iranian officials confirmed to the NY Times that a strike had hit a military air base near the city of Isfahan early on Friday, but did not say which country had mounted the attack.
According to the Pentagon press secretary, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Thursday afternoon on Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East.
Explosions were reported overnight Friday in southern Iraq. The Iraqi Sabrin News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran, reported increased activity of American aircraft in Iraq’s skies.
According to Arab reports, Israel attacked Syria overnight Friday. The Iranian Al-Alam channel cited a Syrian security official about an Israeli attack in southern Syria between the suburbs of the Daraa district and the suburbs of the al-Sawida district. According to the report, a radar base was attacked.
One of the channels of the Al-Jazeera network reported the bombings of several sites in southern Syria in the suburbs of the city of Daraa. For the time being, there is no official update in the Syrian state media.
