Why has Israel attacked Iran?

Iran said it attacked Israel on 1 October in retaliation for the killings of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas – Iranian-backed armed groups fighting Israel – and a senior Iranian commander.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Brig Gen Abbas Nilforoushan were killed when Israel bombed the building they were in in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on 27 September. Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion in the compound where he was staying on a visit to Tehran on 31 July. Iran blamed Israel for that attack, though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

Iran’s attack was its second-ever directly against Israel. It came five months after it first attacked Israel with waves of about 300 drones and missiles. Israel said almost all were intercepted. That attack was in response to an Israeli air strike on an Iranian consulate complex in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on 1 April, which killed 13 people, including seven members of Iran’s overseas Quds Force. Two of those killed were a senior Quds Force commander and his deputy. Iran said the attack was a violation of its sovereignty.

The Quds Force is part of Iran’s most powerful armed force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The IRGC channels arms and equipment, including high precision missiles, through Syria to Hezbollah.

Israel retaliated for Iran’s missile and drone attack nearly three weeks later by attacking targets in Iran’s central Isfahan region. US officials confirmed the Israeli attack, though Israel did not comment. Israeli drones are reported to have hit radar for Iran’s Russian-made S-300 air defence missile system, which Israel believes would pose a particularly dangerous threat to any of its fighters planes in nearby air space.

The attack on the radar was considered limited and designed to signal Israel’s ability to strike Iranian military assets.