Israel launched strikes on Iranian military targets and a petrochemical plant on Monday morning in response to the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile attacks, apparently defying public calls from US President Donald Trump not to retaliate.

After threatening continued barrages if Israel retaliated to its initial attack on Sunday evening, Iran launched more ballistic missile attacks on Monday morning after Israel’s airstrikes on military targets overnight, and was joined by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who also fired a missile at Tel Aviv.

All the ballistic missiles launched from Iran and Yemen were intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The missile fire came after Israel Defense Forces carried out strikes in Iran overnight, saying it was hitting military targets in the center and west of the country.

The IDF later said the “extensive” wave of airstrikes targeted Iranian air defense systems. The military said dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck “strategic defense systems” in Iran as part of the strikes.

“Recently, defense systems were deployed in numerous areas across Iran as part of the regime’s efforts to restore its detection and defense capabilities, which were degraded during Operation Roaring Lion,” the IDF said, referring to the recent war.

“The strike led to the destruction of these systems,” the military added.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that Israel’s attacks were carried out using air-launched ballistic missiles, according to the IRNA news agency.

Iranian reports said 15 targets were hit, while Al Jazeera reported that one of them was a drone storage facility in Tehran.

Some reports also indicated that Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran was among the targeted sites. Sounds of explosions were heard in Tehran, Tabriz, and Isfahan, in Iran, according to local media.

A US defense official told Axios that the US military did not take part in the overnight Israeli strikes on Iran, and that the Israeli strikes were “relatively limited.”

Iran has fired four salvos of missiles at Israel since midnight, in addition to the Houthi attack.

At around 6 a.m., sirens sounded across central Israel warning of a ballistic missile launched from Yemen, with a salvo from Iran triggering alerts in the south and center an hour later, sending millions running for shelter.

Nobody was injured in the volleys themselves, though medics treated a man who fell on his way to seek shelter during the Houthi attack, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.

Damage was caused to several homes in a West Bank settlement following the impact of an Iranian missile fragment in one of the volleys, rescue services said.

תיעוד: הנזקים לבתים כתוצאה מהפגיעה........

© The Times of Israel