Iran on Saturday struck the Israeli towns of Arad and Dimona, wounding more than 100 people and leaving buildings shattered near Israel's main nuclear research facility.
At least 84 people were injured in Arad, 10 of them seriously, while another 33 were wounded in Dimona, reported news agency AFP.
Commenting on the strikes, Iranian state TV said that the attack was a "response" to a previous US-Israeli strike on its own nuclear facility at Natanz, while Israel labelled the attacks a "war crime", claiming that children had been injured as well.
The Israeli military also said that it had failed to intercept the missiles that struck the two towns, marking the first time success of Iranian missiles against Israel's air defence in the area around the nuclear site.
“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X before word of the strikes on Arad spread.
While Iran did not specifically say that it targeted Israel's nuclear facility, the targeting of the area seems to suggest that it very likely did, reported BBC.
Here's why Arad and Dimona are strategically important
With populations of around 30,000 and 40,000 people respectively, Arad and Dimona are two towns in southern Israel that lie in close proximity to the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, which is believed to house Israel's undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The two towns also serve as the nexus of military, technological, and critical infrastructure in Israel's Negev desert, with Dimona being the defence centre, and Arad serving as a residential and logistical hub.
Construction of the nuclear facility, sometimes unofficially referred to as the Dimona reactor, began in 1958, with the reactor believed to have become active sometime between 1962 and 1964.
Israel is also believed to have developed its first nuclear bomb at the Dimona facility in 1967, but information about the nuclear installation remains highly classified even to this day.
Despite Israel's nuclear capabilities being an open secret, Tel Aviv, till date, has refused to either confirm or deny the possession of nuclear weapons.
Israel denies strike on Natanz nuclear facility
Shortly after the conflict between US-Israel and Iran broke out on 28 February, Iran had alleged that strikes by Washington and Tel Aviv had targeted the Natanz nuclear facility around 220 kilometres from the capital city of Tehran.
The Natanz nuclear facility was struck again on Saturday, reported Iranian news agency Mizan, adding that there had been no reports of radiation leaks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meanwhile, said it was investigating reports of an attack on Natanz.
“No increase in off-site radiation levels reported. IAEA is looking into the report,” said the agency.
However, when asked about the strikes, the Israeli military said that it was “not aware” of any strike on Natanz, while the Pentagon has also not commented on it.
The Natanz facility, along with Isfahan and Fordow, was among the three facilities struck by the US during the 12-day war in June last year.
