Israel and Iran exchange attacks as ceasefire falters

Israel has traded attacks with Iran and Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile at Israel, threatening a faltering ceasefire and raising fears of a return to full-blown war in the region.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said early on Monday that it had launched attacks on Israel’s Nevatim and Tel Nof airbases in response to Israeli air attacks overnight on radar sites across Iran. Shortly afterwards, Israel’s army said it had detected a new barrage of missiles launched from Iran.

The Israeli military earlier said its forces struck several targets at the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran, after hitting military targets elsewhere in the country in response to an Iranian barrage against northern Israel, which caused no injuries. Iranian media reported that several explosions were heard in the capital Tehran, as well as in Tabriz and Isfahan.

In Yemen, the Iran-aligned Houthis said they had fired a salvo against Israel and announced they would ban Israeli maritime navigation in the Red ⁠Sea.

The conflict escalated on Sunday as Iranian forces launched a wave of missiles at northern Israel, the first such attack since a truce with the United States and Israel was agreed in April, in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israel said it was targeting positions of the Iran-aligned group Hezbollah. The attacks were the first on the Lebanese capital since Washington announced a ceasefire extension in Lebanon last week.

Iran’s Central Command spokesperson, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, accused the US of giving Israel permission to attack Beirut.

Tehran has long insisted that a truce with Washington includes a halt to hostilities in Lebanon. Since the start of the truce between Iran and the US, Israel has continued attacking Lebanon and has, in recent weeks, expanded the area it occupies in the country’s south, saying it is acting in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters who continue to fire rockets and drones at northern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet commented publicly on the attacks, but multiple Israeli media reports say he will convene a security cabinet meeting at 11am local time (08:00 GMT).