Israeli Airstrikes on Iran: What's Different This Time?

For decades, the security and military blows Iran and Israel dealt one another proceeded through bombings, assassinations, and sabotage. But this shadow war has, for some time now, turned into a direct and open confrontation, and following two missile attacks by Iran on Israel, it has reached a peak with an Israeli airstrike on targets in several Iranian provinces.

Few details of Israel's attack on Iran are yet clear, and it is too early to assess the damage done to Iran's military infrastructure.

Even so, differences can already be seen between this attack and previous episodes of Iran-Israel confrontation that make it an unprecedented event.

Minutes after initial reports of several explosions being heard around Tehran, the Israeli military announced it had struck targets inside Iran.

Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli military, said Israeli forces were “right now” carrying out “precise strikes on military targets.”