U.S. President Joe Biden expressed hope Israeli air strikes on Iran would bring an end to the current chapter of escalation in the Middle East, even as Hezbollah fired dozens of projectiles into northern Israel.
Israel struck Iran overnight in what it called a "targeted and precise" attack in retaliation for Iranian attacks on Israel earlier this month, the military said. Four Iranian soldiers were killed in the bombing, Tehran said.
Iran has been on edge for several weeks, with many government officials and observers around the globe saying they expected Israel to hit back. Tehran said its strikes were retaliation for an earlier attack by Israel.
The Biden administration had been concerned that Israel might target Iranian oil facilities or its nuclear facilities.
SEE ALSO: Israel's Calibrated Attack On Iran Gives Both Countries An Off-RampIran's economy is heavily dependent on oil exports but a strike on energy facilities could have triggered a spike in global oil prices ahead of the U.S. election, where inflation is a key issue.
"Looks like they didn't hit anything but military targets," Biden told reporters on October 26, adding that Israel had informed him prior to the strikes. "I hope this is the end."
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Explosions Heard In Tehran As Israel Launches Retaliatory Strikes (Video)
Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group backed by Iran, condemned the attack and fired more than 200 projectiles at Israel.
Israel said fragments from 30 rockets damaged buildings and cars in one northern town but that no one was killed.
Missile Facilities Targeted
The Israeli military said it targeted manufacturing facilities making missiles used to attack Israel over the last year.
Israeli warplanes also hit "surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel's aerial freedom of operation in Iran."
Earlier, the IDF said the attack was launched "in response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the state of Israel."
"The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7 on several fronts, including direct attacks from Iranian soil," it added.
SEE ALSO: Israel Is Trying To 'Weaken' Hezbollah As a Political And Economic ForceIran said that four of its soldiers had been killed in the Israeli attack, and confirmed that military sites were targeted in the region surrounding the capital, Tehran, and other parts of the country. It said the strikes caused "limited damage."
The semiofficial news agency Tasnim reported that Iran was resuming flights as normal after a brief interruption.
Iran’s currency and financial markets posted gains on October 26 after the government said the strikes caused limited damage. They had declined over the previous two weeks amid concerns over escalation.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on Iran not to respond to the Israeli strikes.
"On the question of the strikes, I think we need to be really clear that Israel does have the right to defend itself, but we are urging -- and have been urging all sides -- to show restraint. And that is why I am very clear today: Iran should not be responding to this," Starmer said in Samoa, where he is attending a Commonwealth summit.
White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said Washington was advised of the strikes ahead of time, calling them "an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran's ballistic-missile attack against Israel on October 1."
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about the strikes.
Austin reiterated that the United States was committed to Israel's security.
Israel has a right to defend itself, though Washington was determined to prevent the conflict from expanding, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said in a statement.
Around the same time, an Israeli air strike targeted some military sites in Syria's central and southern parts, according to the Syrian state SANA news agency.
Concerns have been growing that Iran and the United States would be drawn into a regional war amid Israel's intensifying assault in Lebanon on Hezbollah -- a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
The air strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon have been accompanied by a ground operation.
Hezbollah -- designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party -- has supported another Iran-backed group, Hamas, which has been the target of a withering assault by Israel over the past year.
Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, triggered the current war when its fighters crossed into Israel on October 7, 2023, and killed some 1,200 people. They also took around 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip.