What we know about the Israeli and Iranian strikes that reignite the conflict in the Middle East

The region threatens to flare up again, after 100 days of war and two months of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Jerusalem woke up to the sound of explosions and alerts on Monday June 8, while the Israeli army reported two new barrages of Iranian missiles targeting the country, after two first salvos the day before. Here is what we know about this new episode of the conflict between the two countries.

New Iranian strikes on Israel

Israel woke up Monday to the sound of alerts. Schools will remain closed across the country and the army says “remain on high alert and fully prepared to continue operations on all fronts against those who threaten”. A new barrage of missiles fired by Iran was reported by the Israeli army around 8:30 a.m. The authorities lifted the alert half an hour later. According to Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, no casualties were immediately reported.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said that surface-to-surface missile launch sites as well as “infrastructure not linked to the energy sector” had been targeted. He accuses Iran of having fired 11 ballistic missiles towards his country, all of which were intercepted, according to the army. Tehran announced that its strikes had targeted the military air bases of Nevatim and Tol Nof, citing “a response to the missile attack against several radar sites”.

A frappé petrochemical complexe in Iran

The Israeli army, for its part, says it has struck several targets on the Mahshar petrochemical complex, a special economic zone located near the Gulf. The Karoun company was “hit by projectiles”, “which damaged part of the installations”declared the unnamed vice-governor of Khuzestan province, quoted by the Iranian Fars agency.

Employees of the Mahshar petrochemical complex were evacuated. Two impacts were reported but there were no injuries, announced a spokesperson for the special economic zone. The extent of the damage is being assessed, specifies the same source, cited by state media Irib. Created in 2002-2003, the Karoun petrochemical company produces more than 200,000 tonnes of petrochemical products per year.

On Sunday evening, Iran closed its airspace in the western part of the country until further notice. Flights at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, one of the capital’s two main airports, have been suspended until further notice, according to the Iranian Mehr agency.

Strikes on Israel from Sunday

Iranian state television reported explosions in Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan on Sunday evening, when the Israeli army announced that its air force had bombed “military targets belonging to the Iranian terrorist regime in western and central Iran”. This is the first time that Iran has fired missiles against Israel since the April 8 ceasefire.

Tehran, for its part, presented these attacks as a “warning”in retaliation for an Israeli bombing on the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of the pro-Iranian Islamist movement Hezbollah, leaving two dead and 20 injured. Quoted by the Mehr agency, Iranian diplomatic advisor Ali Safari affirmed that the missile launches had taken place “after more than a month of restraint in the face of repeated violations of the ceasefire” on the part of Israel.

L’Iran a tiré “nearly 30 ballistic missiles” on Israel since Sunday evening, declared an Israeli military official early Monday afternoon during a briefing with foreign journalists.

A disagreement with Trump on the line to follow

The cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to meet Monday morning according to the N12 news channel. The evening before, the leader had already held a meeting with security officials. Donald Trump had declared that he would immediately call Benjamin Netanyahu to ask him not to respond to the missiles fired by Iran, according to the media Axios. In vain.

No official report has been released. A few days ago, the two leaders had already had a heated exchange, according to Donald Trump. The American president had expressed his dissatisfaction after an Israeli offensive in Lebanon, while he continues to seek a way out of a very unpopular conflict in the United States in the run-up to the American mid-term elections. The resumption of strikes between Israel and Iran dampens its hopes of quickly reaching an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.

Tehran, for its part, accuses Washington of being involved in the latest strikes. “Despite the assertions of American officials, we know that Centcom [le commandement central américain] is fully coordinated and cooperates with the Zionist regime in defense and offensedeclared Esmaïl Baqaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The responsibility of the United States as a party to the April 8 ceasefire agreement is engaged.”

Yemen’s Houthis also target Israel

Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced ban “total and absolute” to circulate in the Red Sea for Israeli or Israeli-linked ships. “Any movement of the enemy” sera considéré comme “a military target for our armed forces”declared military spokesperson Yahya Saree.

He added that Houthi forces had targeted Israeli targets in the Jaffa region with several missiles. Previously, Israel said it had identified a missile strike targeting its territory from Yemen, where the Houthi rebels had already joined the conflict before the ceasefire, in support of Iran.