Israel struck military sites in Iran early on Saturday, but its retaliation for an Iranian attack this month did not appear aimed at the country’s most sensitive oil and nuclear targets after urgent calls from allies and neighbours for restraint.

The risk of a wider conflagration between heavily armed Israel and Iran has convulsed a region already on fire with warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, but it was not clear whether the overnight strikes would trigger further escalation.

Israel’s military said scores of jets had completed three waves of strikes before dawn against missile factories and other sites, and warned its heavily armed arch-foe not to hit back.

Iran said its air defences had successfully countered the attack but four soldiers were killed and some locations suffered “limited damage”. A semi-official Iranian news agency vowed a “proportional reaction” to the Israeli strikes.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have grown rapidly since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas.

Escalating conflict in Lebanon, where Israel is waging an intense campaign against Iran’s main regional ally Hezbollah to stop it firing rockets into northern Israel, has raised the temperature still further.

With the US and many West Asian countries urging restraint, all eyes are on Iran for how it will respond to Saturday’s strikes.

Iranian news sites aired footage of passengers at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, seemingly meant to show there was little impact. Local media had reported blasts over several hours in the capital and at nearby military bases. Israel’s military, signalling it did not expect an immediate Iranian response, said there was no change to public safety restrictions across the country.

‘Obligated to respond’

Israel’s military said it had struck truck missile manufacturing facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays, adding its planes had safely returned home.

“If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond,” the military said.

Targets did not include energy infrastructure or Iran’s nuclear facilities, a US official said.

Targeted strikes: US

US President Joe Biden had warned that Washington, Israel’s main backer and supplier of arms, would not support a strike on Tehran’s nuclear sites and had said Israel should consider alternatives to attacking Iran’s oil fields.

“Iran reserves the right to respond to any aggression, and there is no doubt that Israel will face a proportional reaction for any action it takes,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Saturday, citing sources.

A senior Biden official said Israel’s “targeted and proportional strikes” should be the end of direct exchange of fire between the two countries, but the US was fully prepared to once again defend Israel if Iran should choose to respond.

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.

Tasnim reported Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bases that were attacked were not damaged and said Iran was resuming flights from 0530 GMT after a suspension during Israel’s attack.