Iran launches 61st wave of strikes against Israel as part of “Operation True Promise 4”, fires cluster missiles to avenge the killing of security chief Ali Larijani

Iran launches its 61st wave of strikes against Tel Aviv as part of
Missiles launched from Iran streak across the sky over central Israel. (Source: AFP/The Hindu)

The Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) carried out another round of military strikes on Israel as part of “Operation True Promise 4” on 17th March (Tuesday). The operation commenced after several senior Iranian military leaders were killed in Israeli strikes, including Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of Basij unit. Iran has lost a large number of leaders in the offensive by the US-Israeli coalition against the nation, which started with the assassination of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on 28th February.

The Iranian military has launched 61 waves of sophisticated missile and drone strikes against US bases and assets dispersed around West Asia alongside Israeli military installations in areas controlled by the Jewish state.

Hezbollah in Lebanon and Islamic Resistance in Iraq, organisations supported by Iran, have also entered the conflict, reported Iranian state-owned Press TV. Hezbollah has mostly targeted Israeli military facilities within its borders. Its actions are a reaction to Israel’s attacks over the past year, as well as to Khamenei’s killing.

Additionally, similar hits have been executed by Iraqi resistance groups regularly, mostly against American military assets in Iraq and other Arab nations.

Sputnik cited the Iranian news outlet Tasnim to report that the IRGC attacked more than 100 military and security targets in Tel Aviv. The agency informed about power disruptions in some areas of the city and estimated that over 230 people had been killed or injured.

Furthermore, Iran has admitted to firing cluster missiles at Israel designed to evade the latter’s air defences and cause widespread destruction on 18th March (Wednesday). Iran’s Tasnim news agency stated that the IRGC fired Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr missiles at a location in Tel Aviv, reported The Indian Express. The attack was characterised as retaliation for the assassination of Ali Larijani, Iran’s top security official.

Major General Amir Hatami, the commander-in-chief of the Iranian army, stated that his nation will respond to the killing in a “decisive and regrettable” manner and “the blood of this exalted martyr and other esteemed martyrs will be avenged.”

Iranian authorities reported that 67-year-old Ali Larijani, the head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council and one of its most influential political figures, was assassinated together with his son, deputy and bodyguards in an airstrike at his daughter’s house outside Tehran, a day earlier. 

According to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Larijani was slain in Pardis. His deputy for security, Alireza Bayat, his son Morteza Larijani, and a number of guards accompanied him. “In the early hours of the morning, he was martyred along with his son Morteza, Alireza Bayat and a number of bodyguards,” the council mentioned.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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