Israeli strikes on Iran: West cautions against retaliation

Iran's nuclear program was not affected by Israel's deadly air strikes, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog chief said on Saturday night.

"Iran’s nuclear facilities have not been impacted," Rafael Grossi said on social media.

He said International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors were safe and able to continue their work.

"I call for prudence and restraint from actions that could jeopardize the safety and security of nuclear and other radioactive materials," Grossi added.

The Israeli military eased safety restrictions in some parts of northern Israel on Saturday night.

In areas closest to the border with Lebanon, schools can reopen so long as they have bomb shelters nearby.

In towns a bit further away from the border, toward the city of Haifa, gatherings of up to 2,000 people are now permitted again.

In a statement on social media, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it made the decision following a "situational assessment."

The statement did not mention Israel's strikes on Iran. However, the announcement is a possible indication that the Israeli military does not expect a large-scale attack from Iran or its proxies.

Iran's military said four of its soldiers had been killed by Israeli strikes overnight — an increase from the previous death toll of two.

In a carefully-worded statement issued on Saturday night, the Iranian armed forces said that damage to military installations had been "limited."

"Thanks to the timely performance of the country's air defenses, the attacks caused limited damage and a few radar systems were damaged," it said.

The statement also reiterated calls for a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, while reserving its right to respond legally and legitimately at the appropriate time, emphasizes the establishment of a lasting cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon to prevent the killing of the helpless and oppressed people," it read.

Israel said its forces killed a senior Hamas commander during a West Bank raid and subsequent shoot-out. 

A joint statement released by the Israeli military, police and Shin Bet domestic security agency said Islam Jamil Odeh was targeted in a "counterterrorism operation in Tulkarem."

Israel accused Odeh of planning terror attacks, saying he had recently been "tasked with commanding the terrorist network in Tulkarem and had started to plan additional terror attacks." 

The joint statement claimed that Israeli forces "located weaponry, including compounds used to produce IEDs, in his vehicle."

A statement from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, said it mourned the death of "commander and leader of the Qassam Brigades's Tulkarem Battalion, Islam Jamil Odeh (from Tulkarem Camp)."

A statement from Hamas said, "The assassination policy will not bring security to [Israel], nor will it succeed in breaking our people's resolve or their commitment to resistance."

The Palestinian Health Ministry says that over 700 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Hamas launched the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks that sparked the latest round of fighting in the region.

Odeh's predecessor was assassinated by Israeli forces in early October.

Amid Western calls for de-escalation, Iran on Saturday said that it has a "right and a duty" to defend itself, after military attacks by Israel.

Tehran's Foreign Ministry however added that it "recognizes its responsibilities toward regional peace and security."

Israel, which said its strikes had been retaliation for prior Iranian attacks, warned the Islamic Republic that it would "pay a heavy price" should it respond.

In Lebanon, the Iran-backed political party and militant group Hezbollah said it had launched cross-border rocket attacks targeting residential areas in northern Israel.

Israel confirmed that 80 projectiles had been fired across the border from Lebanon.

The US on Saturday joined other nations in urging "de-escalation" in the widening Middle East conflict after Israel launched airstrikes against numerous targets in Iran in the hours prior.

US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett, who made clear that the US had no part in the strikes, said Israel's "response was an exercise in self-defense and specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets, contrary to Iran's attack against Israel that targeted Israel's most populous city."

"It is our aim to accelerate diplomacy and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region," Savett added.

Those words were echoed by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who also called for "de-escalation." 

In a statement, Starmer said: "I think we need to be really clear that Israel does have the right to defend itself, but we are urging, and have been urging all sides to show restraint, and that is why I am very clear today, Iran should not be responding to this."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on Iran to refrain from escalatory action after Israel's overnight attacks on Iranian military sites.

"My message to Iran is clear: We cannot continue with massive reactions of escalation. This must end now. This will provide an opportunity for peaceful development in the Middle East," Scholz said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Scholz said Israel had informed Berlin that it carried out the strikes, adding that "attempts were made to keep personal injuries to a minimum."

Scholz also called for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages still held in the enclave. He called as well for a cease-fire in Lebanon.

"We expect Hezbollah to withdraw behind the Litani River. So that peaceful development can also be made possible here," Scholz said, in reference to the river in southern Lebanon and is a crucial water source for the battered country.

Israel has repeatedly called for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, located some 30 kilometers north of the border.

Russia has said it is concerned that hostilities between Israel and Iran could undergo an "explosive escalation" after the overnight attacks by Israel on Iranian military targets.

"We urge all parties involved to exercise restraint, stop the violence and prevent events from developing into a catastrophic scenario," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
 

The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia says it carried out a drone attack on the Israeli Tel Nof air base on Saturday.

It is the first time the group has claimed an attack on the facility, which is located south of Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah also said it fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli forces near the village of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon,

The village has been the scene of regular clashes that Hezbollah has reported with Israeli forces over the past two weeks.

No reaction of Israel to the claimed attacks has yet been reported.

Israel has been at war with Hezbollah for a month after a year of cross-border hostilities triggered by the war in the Gaza Strip.

Pakistan, Qatar and Iraq have all criticized Israel's airstrikes on Iran, saying that they could seriously endanger security in the Middle East region.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry urged restraint and dialogue, while Pakistan said the "strikes undermine the path to regional peace and stability and also constitute a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region."  

"Israel bears full responsibility for the current cycle of escalation and expansion of the conflict," the statement from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry added.  

Iraq also criticized the international community for its "silence" over current Israeli actions.

"The occupying Zionist entity continues its aggressive policies and widening the conflict in the region through blatant attacks that it carries out with impunity," government spokesperson Basim Alawadi said in a statement, referring to Israel. 

DW reporter Amir Soltanazadeh, a native Persian speaker, has given his perspective on how the Iranian media reacted to the Israeli strikes on Iranian territory.

In the direct aftermath of the Israeli strikes, Iranian state media initially maintained an eerie silence.

This contrasted sharply with the dynamic social media activity within Iran, where users on platforms like Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) shared videos of bright lights in the sky and loud noises.

Accounts linked to Iran's intelligence and security apparatus warned on social media that sharing images with foreign media could be deemed espionage. This was part of a broader strategy to intimidate the public against disseminating information about the attacks. Telegram channels associated with the Revolutionary Guard shared images of urban areas, insisting that nothing significant had occurred.

At the time, air traffic monitoring websites indicated a notably empty airspace over Iran and Iraq.

Finally, after the widespread sharing of numerous videos by citizens on social media, the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) network briefly acknowledged hearing loud noises but continued to deny that any strikes had occurred.

Eventually, some official Iranian news sources conceded that an attack had taken place but claimed that Iranian defenses had successfully intercepted the strikes. Subsequently, state-aligned media downplayed the severity of the assault.

This morning, several government-affiliated journalists attempted to minimize the impact of the strikes by appearing in busy public areas of the capital, Tehran, asserting that normal life continued.

In response, some social media users remarked, "This isn't our war with Israel; it's your war!"

The semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency has quoted a statement by the Iranian army saying that two of its soldiers were killed in the overnight strikes by Israel on military sites in Iran. The official news agency IRNA also reported that two soldiers were killed, while state television also quoted an army statement to the same effect.

"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 defense of its territory," the statement said.

Previously, Iran had spoken only of "limited damage" to some locations.  

The strikes have further fueled fears of an all-out conflict between Israel and its archenemy Iran.

Saudi Arabia has condemned the attacks on military sites in Iran as a "violation of its sovereignty" and international law.

It called on all parties to show maximum restraint, while calling on the international community to work on deescalation in the region.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have recently made efforts to establish closer ties after many years of relations strained by regional rivalry, policies on oil exports and differing relations with the West and the US.
 

Iran has announced that flights will be resumed on Saturday morning after they were suspended briefly following an overnight Israeli attack on several military sites in the country. 

"Flights will return to normal from 9:00 am (0530 GMT) on Saturday," the spokesperson of the Civil Aviation Organization said, according to the official IRNA news agency. 
      

Following Israel's overnight strikes on military sites in Iran, the British government has said it supports "Israel's right to self-defense and to protect itself" provided it remains within the bounds of "international humanitarian law."

But in a statement by a spokesperson, it warned that "further escalation is in no one's interest."

The government was "monitoring this situation closely," the statement said.