Israel warns of a prolonged war as it continues striking Iranpublished at 19:44 British Summer Time 21 June
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem
As diplomacy seems to be going nowhere, de-escalation is elusive. Israel says it has assassinated another three top Iranian military officials, further proof of its deep penetration of Iran’s security forces.
One of them was Saeed Izadi, described as being one of the architects of the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October. The Israeli military called his killing a major achievement.
Iranian military official Saeed Izadi was assassinated by the IDF, according to the Israeli military
Another commander Israel says it killed was Benham Shariyari, of the Revolutionary Guards overseas arm. He was believed to have been responsible for weapons transfers from Iran to its regional proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
IDF spokesman Effie Defrin, an Israeli military spokesman, said both men were at the forefront of the Iranian project to take the war to Israeli territory. In this operation, he said, we took the war to their territory.
The Israeli military also hit the Isfahan nuclear facility for the second time in this conflict. It released footage showing extensive damage to the complex, but there were no reports of radioactive leaks.
In response to the attacks, Iran fired more ballistic missiles at Israel overnight. In the morning, an Iranian drone penetrated Israeli air defences and hit a house in the north, but there were no injuries.
Amid international calls for a negotiated solution to this crisis, the chief of Israel’s armed forces said his country should be ready for a prolonged conflict against Iran.