Achieved ‘aerial superiority’ over Tehran: say IDF

Rescuers work near a damaged building following an Iranian missile attack in Tel Aviv yesterday. Pic/AFP

Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, killing at least eight people, while Israel claimed on the fourth day of the conflict that it had now achieved "aerial superiority" over Tehran and could fly over the Iranian capital with impunity. After days of attacks on Iranian air defences and missile systems, the Israeli military said its aircraft now control the skies from western Iran to Tehran and had destroyed more than 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers that had been firing at Israel in overnight missions.

"Now we can say that we have achieved full air supremacy in the Tehran airspace," said military spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin. Iran, meantime, announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for Israel's sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure, which have killed at least 224 people in the country since Friday. One missile fell near the American consulate in Tel Aviv, causing minor damage, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on X. There were no injuries to American personnel.

Israel said so far 24 people have been killed and more than 500 injured as Iran launched more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones. In response, the Israeli military said fighter jets had struck 10 command centres in Tehran belonging to Iran's Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran. Israel on Monday said it intercepted over 100 UAVs sent by Iran.

US says avoid travel to Iraq

The US Embassy in Baghdad on Sunday (local time) issued a security alert for American citizens in Iraq due to increased potential for foreign terrorist organisation-inspired violence or attacks against US businesses and locations frequented by its citizens. The embassy urged US citizens to avoid travel to Iraq.

Azerbaijan helps with evacuations

Following the evacuation of citizens of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, citizens of Portugal, the Philippines, Finland and some other countries have crossed the Astara border checkpoint and headed to the airport in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizade said 41 of its citizens, including family members of its diplomats in Iran, also have returned.

US refuel aircraft fly across Atlantic

Sunday night saw over two dozen refuelling planes - including KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-46 Pegasus tankers - flying eastbound across the North Atlantic at cruising altitudes. While the precise destination of the tankers remains unconfirmed, many were observed heading toward European airspace, or potentially onward to Middle Eastern bases used by the US and NATO.

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