Israel warns Tehran will burn if missile attacks continue

Tehran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel into Saturday morning, as the Israeli army declared Iran its primary war front a day after launching its biggest-ever air offensive against the Islamic Republic.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that "Tehran will burn" if it keeps firing missiles at Israeli civilians.

Air raid sirens sounded across Israel, sending residents rushing into shelters as Iran launched five successive waves of missiles into the centre and north of the country. Israel said it had intercepted most of the missiles; however, the attacks caused extensive damage and killed at least three people.

"The Iranian dictator is taking the citizens of Iran hostage, bringing about a reality in which they, and especially Tehran's residents, will pay a heavy price for the flagrant harm inflicted upon Israel's citizens. If Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn," Katz said in a statement.

One woman was killed in the city of Ramat Gan, where nine buildings were also destroyed and hundreds of apartments in the area were damaged, according to Israeli media. Two other people were killed when an Iranian missile also struck near a home in the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion.

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In Tel Aviv, a 32-storey building was hit and caught fire, according to the Haaretz newspaper, while other areas suffered extensive damage. 

Israel’s paramedic services said more than 70 people in total were wounded in the Iranian attack on central Israel, including 34 in the Tel Aviv area.

Meanwhile, Israel targeted Iran's air defences and missile launchers on Saturday as it pressed ahead with its assault on Iran's military and nuclear capabilities. Iranian state TV reported that two senior Iranian generals - Gholamreza Mehrabi, deputy head of intelligence of the armed forces general staff, and Mehdi Rabbani, deputy head of operations - were killed in Israeli strikes. 

In Tehran, fire and heavy smoke billowed over Mehrabad airport on Saturday, an AFP journalist said, as Iranian media reported an explosion.

On Friday, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said that 78 people had been killed and hundreds wounded in Israeli strikes. Iranian state TV reported on Saturday that an Israeli strike on a residential complex in Tehran killed at least 60 people, including 20 children.

Iran called on its citizens to unite in the country's defence as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged them to rise up.

Citing senior Iranian military officials, Iran's Fars News Agency reported that strikes against Israel will continue, with targets expected to expand to include US bases in the region in the coming days.

"This confrontation will not end with last night's limited actions and Iran's strikes will continue, and this action will be very painful and regrettable for the aggressors," Fars reported.

A report in Iran's Mehr News Agency said the Islamic Republic had also warned Britain and France that it could retaliate if they came to Israel's defence.

A senior Iraqi security official told AFP that Baghdad has asked Tehran not to target US interests on Iraqi soil, home to 2,500 American troops.

The attacks prompted several countries in the region to ground air traffic temporarily. However, on Saturday morning, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria reopened their airspace.

'Tehran no longer immune'

The Israeli army declared that Gaza has become a secondary front in the war and that the army's primary focus has now shifted to Iran. Israeli military sources, quoted by Haaretz, said that the Israeli air force has struck around 150 targets inside Iran. 

The military has admitted for the first time that it attacked, but did not destroy, the nuclear site in Fordow, south of Tehran, in Qom province.

On Saturday, Netanyahu said that Israel's attacks have set Iran's nuclear programme back, possibly by years, and that heavier blows were yet to come.

"In the very near future, you will see Israeli Air Force jets over the skies of Tehran," he said in a video message.

"We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs' regime and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days."

Netanyahu added that the military was now destroying Iran's ability to manufacture ballistic missiles.

Earlier, the Israeli army's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel's overnight strikes took out Iran's air defence system, allowing its forces to now operate freely over Iranian airspace.

Military spokesperson Brigadier-General Effie Defrin said: "We have created aerial freedom of action from west Iran all the way to Tehran... Tehran is no longer immune," said

Reuters quoted an Israeli military official as saying Iran's Esfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were significantly damaged by Israeli strikes. 

The official said Israel had "eliminated the highest commanders of their military leadership" and had killed nine nuclear scientists who "were main sources of knowledge, main forces driving forward the [nuclear] programme".

US President Donald Trump has praised Israel's attacks and warned of much worse to come unless Iran quickly accepts US demands of sharply downgrading its nuclear programme.

Nuclear talks between Iran and the US were set for Sunday. However, Tehran implied it would not attend but stopped short of pulling out.

"The other side [the US] acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless," state media quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. "It is still unclear what decision we will make on Sunday in this regard."

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