Israel, Iran exchange missile strikes as conflict intensifies

Iran launched retaliatory airstrikes against Israel on Friday night and early Saturday with barrages of missiles, with explosions heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the country's two largest cities, following Israel's biggest-ever military strike on the Islamic republic's nuclear and military facilities that killed several top generals.

Air raid sirens sounded across Israel as authorities urged the public to take shelter. Missiles were seen over Tel Aviv's skyline, with the military saying Iran had fired two salvos.

Israel's military said Iran fired fewer than 100 missiles, and most were intercepted or fell short. The U.S. military helped shoot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel, two U.S. officials said.

Several buildings were struck in the attack, including an apartment block in a residential neighborhood in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. Another building in central Tel Aviv was also hit, causing significant damage to multiple floors.

Israel's firefighting service said its teams were responding to the aftermath of Iranian missile strikes, including working to rescue people trapped in a high-rise building.

Rescuers said 34 people had been wounded in the Gush Dan area, including a woman who later died of her injuries, according to Israeli media reports.

The Israeli strikes on Iran throughout the day and the Iranian retaliation raised fears of a broader regional conflagration, although Iran's allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been decimated by Israel.

In Iran's capital Tehran early Saturday, fire and heavy smoke billowed from Mehrabad airport, an AFP journalist said, as local media reported a blast in the area.

Iran said earlier it had activated its air-defense system, and explosions could be heard across the capital.

Iran's state news agency IRNA said Tehran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel after Israel struck Iran's large Natanz underground nuclear site and killed its top military commanders. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Israeli officials said it may take some time before the full extent of the damage at Natanz is clear.

The above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Natanz has been destroyed, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council on Friday. He said the UN was still gathering information about Israeli attacks on two other facilities, the Fordow fuel enrichment plant and Isfahan.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel of starting a war. A senior Iranian official warned that nowhere in Israel would be safe and that revenge would be painful.

Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani said 78 people, including senior military officials, were killed in Israel's strikes on Iran, and more than 320 people were wounded, most of them civilians.

He accused the U.S. of complicity in the attacks and said it shares full responsibility for the consequences.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a TV address that the operation "will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat."

(With input from agencies)