LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:
Israel carried out a series of strikes against Iran overnight, including in the capital city of Tehran. Israel says the strikes targeted military facilities. This is the first time Israel has openly admitted to attacking the Islamic Republic. Iran's national air defense forces released a statement calling the damage, quote, "limited." And according to Iranian state media, four soldiers died. The strikes could push the two closer to larger conflict as Israel is fighting wars in both Gaza and Lebanon. For more, we're joined by NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv. Kat, what can you tell us about the strikes this morning?
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: So NPR spoke with an official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. And that official said Israel carried out three waves of strikes on Iran, first on its air defense systems. The second and third wave targeted sites that store and produce ballistic missiles and drones, like the ones that Iran has shot at Israel in the past. These strikes last night were in retaliation to an attack on October 1, when Iran launched almost 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, many of which were intercepted. Iran seemed to downplay the attack, saying there was limited damage to military bases in three provinces, including in Tehran. There has been worry leading up to this that Israel might try to strike Iran's oil or nuclear infrastructure, and the U.S. had been working to talk Israel out of doing that.
FRAYER: There are fears of an all-out war between Israel and Iran. What's the possibility of that?
LONSDORF: Well, here's what President Biden told reporters traveling with him today.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It looks like they didn't hit anything other than military targets. My hope is this is the end.
LONSDORF: So from the U.S. perspective, the U.S. is hoping it's over. The official that NPR spoke to earlier today stressed that these strikes were designed to be a warning to Iran from Israel to show just how far-reaching its intelligence is. So for Israel, this could be just the beginning of something larger. As for how Iran will respond following the strikes, Iran's foreign ministry put out a statement saying in part that Iran considers itself entitled and obliged to defend against acts of external aggression.
FRAYER: Israel is, of course, fighting wars in Lebanon and Gaza against Iranian-backed groups, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. What's the latest there?
LONSDORF: Well, both of those wars are very much ongoing with many people being killed, Israel has continued striking southern Lebanon and Beirut, saying it's taken out hundreds of Hezbollah rocket launchers, while Hezbollah is still firing dozens, if not hundreds, of rockets a day at Israel. In Gaza, the situation in the north is especially dire. The Israeli military has besieged areas there. It's forcibly displacing Palestinians and trapping others in their homes in the midst of a very heavy conflict.
In the past few days, Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north, which is full of patients, opening fire and detaining all the male medical staffers, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Israeli military says it is operating in the area of the hospital based on intelligence of, quote, "terrorists and terrorist infrastructure." The military did not respond to NPR when we asked about the raid.
FRAYER: Kat, is there any end in sight for this?
LONSDORF: Well, there is talk in diplomatic circles of a short-term ceasefire in Gaza that would allow for the release of some of the Israeli hostages. So it's possible talks on that could resume this week. It's unclear what that would mean for Israel's war in Lebanon, if anything, so we're keeping an eye on all of that in the coming days.
FRAYER: That's NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv. Thanks, Kat.
LONSDORF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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