Iran has launched renewed missile strikes on Israel, leaving buildings wrecked in Tel Aviv and surrounding suburbs.
One of the damaged site is an old neighborhood, with most of homes built in the 1940s and the 1950s, according to a footage filmed by China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Several missiles were fired from Iran on Tuesday, setting off air raid sirens in various areas in Israel, including Tel Aviv, the Israeli military said.
On the same day, the Israeli military said that it has killed Ali Shadmani, Iran's wartime chief of staff and one of the Islamic Republic's most senior military figures, in an overnight airstrike on a command center in central Tehran.
The strike was carried out by the Israeli Air Force following "precise intelligence" and a "sudden opportunity," the military said in a statement.
Shadmani, described by the Israeli military as the top operational commander of the Iranian armed forces and a close associate of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had commanded both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian army.
He was appointed to lead Iran's armed forces at the start of the ongoing five-day warfare after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Alaa Ali Rashid, in an earlier strike that started the current fighting.
His killing "adds to a series of eliminations targeting Iran's most senior military leadership and disrupts the chain of command," the Israeli military said.
Tel Aviv buildings hit by renewed Iranian missile strikes
Tel Aviv buildings hit by renewed Iranian missile strikes
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that the situation in Iran is "under total control" following violence linked to protests that spiked over the weekend.
Addressing foreign diplomats in Tehran, the foreign minister noted that armed terrorist groups had infiltrated the protests, attempting to divert them from their legitimate course. He claimed that evidence has been gathered showing Iranian security forces being shot at, with the aim of causing further casualties. He accused the United States and Israel of exploiting the unrest to interfere in Iran's internal affairs.
Araghchi further stated that the government is closely monitoring developments on the streets, emphasizing that "the situation has come under control." He also affirmed that internet services, curtailed during the unrest, would be restored after coordination with security agencies.
The government has engaged in dialogue with merchants and protest representatives and initiated reforms to address grievances related to price hikes and currency depreciation. Iran has taken a series of actions and measures to respond to the demands of peaceful demonstrators, the foreign minister said.
Earlier on Sunday, Araghchi said that clear evidence links recent riots and vandalism of public facilities in Iran to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. This came after former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned Mossad agents operating on Iran's streets in a social media post. The Iranian foreign minister asserted that police are being attacked by "terrorists" acting under the direction of Israeli operatives, whom Pompeo publicly acknowledged.
The protests initially erupted over a sharp depreciation of the rial and sweeping subsidy reforms. Iranian authorities have blamed the unrest on foreign-linked agents and U.S. sanctions.
Iranian foreign minister says situation "fully under control," accuses Israeli intelligence of stoking unrest
