Israel says Iran security chief, Basij head killed
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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that top Iranian security official Ali Larijani has been killed in a strike overnight.
Iran has not confirmed Larijani’s death.
Larijani is the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council in Iran, which oversees coordination on defense and foreign policy.
Larijani is believed to be the main figure behind the Iranian government’s violent crackdown on protesters earlier this year.
The Israeli military has alsoclaimed it has killed Basij head Gholamreza Soleimani in a strike.
“Yesterday (Monday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, targeted and eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past six years,” the Israeli military said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Iran has not yet confirmed the killing of Soleimani.
The Basij is an all-volunteer division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which polices the Iranian population on behalf of the clerical regime.
The paramilitary group of often poor, highly devout citizens have enforced morality rules such as headscarf wearing for women and also seek to quell any potential uprising or riots against the government.
The Israeli army meanwhile, has said it had started a “wide-scale wave of strikes” against Iranian regime targets in Tehran.
In a post on its official Telegram channel, the Israeli military also confirmed it had carried out a “wave of strikes” on Iran-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Lebanese state media said the Israeli strikes hit a residential building in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israel also reported two incoming salvos before dawn from Iran at Tel Aviv, with Hezbollah also launching drones and rockets toward Israel’s north.
Rockets, drones target US Embassy in Baghdad
The US Embassy in Baghdad was targeted by rockets and drones early Tuesday, Iraqi security sources said.
While Iraq’s air defenses intercepted multiple drones and rockets, with no reported injuries, the officials said, shrapnel did hit the embassy compound, triggering an explosion and sending a plume of smoke into the sky.
Meanwhile, a separate strike hit a house inside the fortified Presidential Compound in Baghdad’s al-Jadriya area.
Iran-linked militias based in Iraq are suspected to be behind the attacks, which have repeatedly targeted US interests in Iraq.
UAE briefly closes airspace
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) briefly closed its airspace on Tuesday as explosions were heard over Dubai.
The military said it was “responding to missile and drone threats from Iran.”
The closure was soon lifted, the state-run WAM news agency reported, citing the General Civil Aviation Authority. Authorities said the situation had “stabilized” and flights resumed.
However, shortly after, people in Dubai were sent missile warning alerts as the air attacks continued.
Separately, WAM said a drone attack sparked a fire at an oil tank farm in Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman coast. No injuries were reported.
