A drone launched from Iran struck a home in the northern city of Beit She’an early Saturday morning, in the first such incident since the conflict began a week ago, the IDF confirmed.
Attempts were made to shoot down the Shahed-136 model, but were unsuccessful.
Damage was caused to the home. No people were reported injured after medics scanned the two-story building, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
Between late Friday and Saturday afternoon, the Israeli Air Force shot down some 40 drones launched from Iran at Israel, the military said.
Aside from the impact in Beit She’an, one drone crashed in an open area in the Golan Heights overnight, and another fell near the Route 90 highway in southern Israel’s Arava region. There were no injuries.
Excluding the weekend attacks, the military said it had intercepted 470 drones launched from Iran at Israel since June 13 — marking a 99% interception rate for drones that posed a threat, it said.
According to the IDF, Iran has launched more than 1,000 drones at Israel since June 13, though many have fallen short or have been intercepted by other countries, such as Jordan.
Israel on Saturday afternoon launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, a day after Defense Minister Israel Katz said that he instructed the IDF to “intensify strikes on government targets in Tehran” to “destabilize” the Iranian regime.
Several “powerful explosions” were heard in southwestern Iran’s Ahvaz county, the daily Shargh reported, after the IDF announced it was striking “military infrastructure” in the southwest of the country.
Ahvaz is the capital of Khuzestan province, which is situated on the Iraqi border and is Iran’s main oil-producing region.
Meanwhile, an Iranian nuclear scientist killed in a drone strike on an apartment in Tehran Friday was identified as Isar Tabatabai-Qamsheh in a report by the semi-official Mehr News Agency, which said his wife was also killed.
An Iranian news website said Friday that a drone had struck an apartment in a residential building in central Tehran, but did not give details. According to The Wall Street Journal, the scientist who was attacked specialized in weaponry and was being kept in a hiding spot outside of his home. An official speaking to The Journal on Friday refused to provide the scientist’s name.
The Israel Defense Forces has not yet commented on the reported strike, but the military has already confirmed the assassination of at least 10 Iranian nuclear scientists who were killed during the opening attack of Israel’s campaign against Iran in “Operation Narnia.”
Israeli strikes earlier Saturday eliminated three top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers and hit Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site.
The commander of the Hatzerim Airbase said Saturday that IAF strikes in Iran have been reducing ballistic missile fire on Israel, after five projectiles were launched overnight.
“We are targeting the enemy’s missiles, weapon depots, launchers, and personnel, thereby reducing the number of launches at Israel,” said Brig. Gen. “Ayin” in a video. He was only identified by his first initial in Hebrew for security concerns.
The IAF has conducted over 1,000 sorties over Iran in the past eight days, with fighter jets dropping hundreds of munitions on Iranian ballistic missile launch and storage sites, disrupting its attacks on Israel from western Iran, the military said.
IAF drones have also struck numerous ballistic missile launchers and eliminated dozens of Iranian soldiers at the launch sites, according to the military.
The IDF said these strikes make Iranian soldiers “feel hunted,” and added that they “have been observed abandoning and fleeing” the launchers.
Iran’s forces have been pushed eastward and southward due to the strikes, the IDF said. Each day, new strikes are being carried out against launch sites in western Iran to prevent Iranian forces from returning to them, according to the military.
The IAF has estimated it has so far taken out over 200 ballistic missile launchers, or about half of what Iran had before the conflict, which began on June 13 when Israel launched a campaign of airstrikes in Iran to decimate the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Israel has said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran has retaliated by launching over 470 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel.
So far, Iran’s missile attacks have killed 24 people and wounded thousands in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals. Some of the missiles have hit apartment buildings, a university, and a hospital, causing heavy damage.