Iran Attacks Israel Directly
Iran and Israel attacked each other's territory directly in 2024, ending four decades in which their conflict had been conducted through proxies and deniable operations. The sequence began on 1 April, when an Israeli strike on the Iranian consular annexe in Damascus killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, and six other officers. Attacking diplomatic premises removed the ambiguity that had allowed Iran to absorb previous killings without responding openly. On 13 April Iran launched around 300 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles at Israel — the first direct attack on Israeli territory from Iranian soil. It was telegraphed hours in advance, and almost everything was intercepted by Israeli, American, British, French and Jordanian air defences. One child was seriously injured. Israel replied on 19 April with a limited strike near Isfahan, apparently demonstrating that it could defeat the air defences around a nuclear site. Both sides then stopped, having established the precedent. It resumed in the autumn. Israel killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, during the presidential inauguration, and Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in September. Iran fired around 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on 1 October, and Israel struck Iranian air defences and missile production sites on 26 October. Each exchange was larger than the last and each was calibrated to stop short of general war. The pattern established in 2024 was the precondition for the twelve-day war of June 2025. The proxy network Iran had built over four decades was substantially degraded in the same period, and Syria's government fell that December.
- Year: 2024 CE
- Category: Military
