TEHRAN: Iran warned on Saturday it would defend itself after Zionist air strikes killed at least four soldiers and further stoked fears of a full-scale regional war in the Middle East. Iran’s military said only radar systems were damaged in the Zionist strikes on Tehran and other provinces. “Thanks to the timely performance of the country’s air defenses, the attacks caused limited damage and a few radar systems were damaged,” the armed forces general staff said in a statement read out on state television.

The Zionist entity warned Iran would “pay a heavy price” if it responded to the strikes, and the United States, Germany and Britain demanded Tehran not escalate the conflict further. Other countries, including many of Iran’s neighbors, condemned the Zionist entity’s strikes and some, such as Russia, urged both sides to show restraint and avoid what Moscow dubbed a “catastrophic scenario”.

Kuwait’s ministry of foreign affairs on Saturday strongly denounced and rejected the Zionist occupation’s overnight aggression on Iran. In a press release, the ministry said the aggression reflects “the policy of chaos adopted by (Zionist) occupying forces by breaching countries’ sovereignty, jeopardizing regional security and breaking international law principles and norms as well as international charters.

It restated Kuwait’s call on the international community and United Nations Security Council to halt such practices that pose a menace to the region’s future and peoples and that underline the necessity of taking earnest steps to maintain regional security and stability as per international laws and charters.

The Islamic republic insisted it had the “right and the duty” to defend itself, while its Lebanese ally Hezbollah said it had already launched rocket salvos targeting five residential areas in the Zionist entity’s north. The Zionist army said 80 projectiles were fired across the border on Saturday. Confirming its own strikes after explosions and anti-aircraft fire echoed around Tehran, the Zionist entity military said it had hit Iranian missile factories and military facilities in several regions.

The “retaliatory strike has been completed and the mission was fulfilled”, while Zionist aircraft “returned safely”, a military spokesman added. Iran confirmed the Zionist entity had targeted military sites in Tehran province around the capital and other parts of the country, saying the raids caused “limited damage” but killed four soldiers.

A semi-official Iranian news agency said there would be a “proportional reaction” to the Zionist strikes. Two regional officials briefed by Iran told Reuters that several high-level meetings were held in Tehran to determine the scope of Iran’s response. One official said the damage was “very minimal” but added that several Revolutionary Guards bases in and around Tehran were also hit.

The Zionist entity had vowed to retaliate after Oct 1, when Iran fired around 200 missiles in only the second-ever direct attack against its arch-foe. Most of those missiles were intercepted but one person was killed. The Zionist retaliation drew condemnation from Hamas, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, which warned against further escalation. Jordan stated that Zionist jets had not used its airspace.

Turkey was one of the most outspoken critics. “Putting an end to the terror created by (the Zionist entity) in the region has become a historic task for the establishment of international peace and security,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. “We condemn in the strongest terms the (Zionist) attack on Iran. By committing genocide in Gaza, preparing to annex the West Bank and killing civilians every day in Lebanon, (the Zionist entity) has brought our region to the brink of a greater war,” the ministry added.

At roughly the same time as the Zionist entity struck targets in Iran, the Syrian state news agency SANA said a Zionist air attack targeted military positions in central and southern Syria. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose network of factions, claimed responsibility before dawn Saturday for a drone attack against a “military target” in the Zionist entity’s north.

On Friday, two people died from shrapnel wounds after a Hezbollah rocket barrage into the Zionist entity’s north, Zionist officials said. In addition to the residential strikes, Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Zionist soldiers near the village of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon and at an intelligence base as well as launching drones against the Zionist Tel Nof air base south of Tel Aviv. On Saturday, Lebanon’s health ministry said a Zionist strike had killed a Hezbollah-affiliated medic in Bazuriyeh in the south of the country.

US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett claimed the Zionist entity’s response to Iran was “an exercise in self-defense”. He urged Iran to “cease its attacks on (the Zionist entity) so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation”.

In April, in its first-ever direct assault against Zionist territory, Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles. Tehran said the barrage was retaliation for a strike on Iran’s consular annex in Damascus that killed members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Explosions later in April shook Iran’s Isfahan province in what US officials, cited by American media, said was Zionist retaliation. Iran said its Oct1 missile attack on the Zionist entity was retaliation for a Zionist air raid that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as well as the assassination in Tehran of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. – Agencies