#IsraelIranConflict

Restless night in the Middle East. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced during the night from Thursday to Friday that Israel has launched a preemptive strike on Iran. He also ordered a nationwide alert and warned that retaliation from Iran is expected in the near future. Iran responded to the attack by launching drones.

Operation Rising Lion, which aims to strike Iranian nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile factories, and other military installations. Recently, Iran has decided to take actions that it had not previously undertaken, aimed at converting enriched uranium into weapons.

Iranian state media reported that residential neighborhoods in Tehran were among those attacked, with fatalities including children. It was added that Israel also struck a key Iranian uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, located partially underground, as well as a site in Parchin. There is a likelihood that the entire General Staff of the Iranian armed forces, including its chief, was eliminated in the Israeli attack, said Axios reporter Barak Ravid on CNN. The commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gen. Hosein Salami, was also reported to have died in the attack, according to Iranian state media. The Israeli attack reportedly killed the chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, as reported on Friday by the Fars News agency, which is linked to the Revolutionary Guards, citing its sources. Iranian state media also confirmed the death of the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hosein Salami. Another victim is Division General of the Corps, Golam Ali Rashid, reported Iran International, citing the ISNA agency. Iranian media also reported the death of Ali Shamkhani, the main advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, as well as the deaths of at least four nuclear experts.