Iran Fires Wave Of Drones At Israel After Massive IDF Airstrikes Kill Top Iranian Generals, Nuclear Scientists—All You Need To Know

After Israeli airstrikes at multiple locations in Iran, Tehran on Friday (13 June) launched over 100 drones at Israel, Israel's military said.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion early Friday morning with a wave of airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, scientists and senior military commanders.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in televised remarks that Iran had launched the drones, and that Israel's air defenses were already "working to intercept the threats."

Later in the day, an Israeli military official told reporters that while the threat wasn't over, Israel had managed to intercept many of Iran's UAVs, CBS News reported.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami was among those killed in an Israeli air strike early Friday (13 June), according to Iranian media reports.

Iranian state television outlet IRIB confirmed that Major General Gholam Ali Rashid, commander of the central headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces, was also killed in one of the attacks.

Several other senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders and nuclear scientists are also reported to be among the dead in the large-scale Israeli strikes targeting Tehran and multiple provinces across Iran.

Israel claimed that Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, was also killed in its operation.

"We can now confirm that the Chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Commander of the IRGC and the Commander of Iran’s Emergency Command were all eliminated in the Israeli strikes across Iran by more than 200 fighter jets," the IDF said.

Veteran nuclear scientists Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoon Abbasi have also been killed in separate attacks, Iranian state-owned Press TV reported.

Khamenei condemned the targeted airstrikes on Iran's military and nuclear sites and vowed Tehran's severe retaliation against Israel.

“In the early hours of today, the Zionist regime once again revealed its evil and bloodstained hand by committing a crime on our beloved soil, further exposing its malicious nature through attacks on residential areas. The regime must now await a harsh punishment,” read the statement from Khamenei.

Following Khamenei's warning, Israel alerted its citizens on Friday morning that Iran had launched more than 100 drones — which would take several hours to arrive — telling people nationwide to remain near bomb shelters.

Three hours later, the IDF Home Front Command lifted its instruction to Israelis to remain near shelters without a single siren sounding in the country, after it worked to shoot them down outside Israeli territory, Times of Israel reported.

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