How Iran-Israel tensions have escalated since the war on Gaza: A timeline
Al Jazeera
Iranian media on Friday reported explosions in Isfahan city, amid steadily increasing tensions with Israel.
Iranian state media reported on Friday that the country had activated its air defence systems over the central city of Isfahan, to bring down three aerial objects, amid sounds of explosions. Flights were briefly suspended in many parts of the country, before the alert was lifted.
US broadcasters, quoting senior American officials, reported that Israeli missiles had hit Isfahan. Iranian officials said they were still confirming the source of the apparent attack by drones, while Israel has not commented on the incident.
Meanwhile, Syria’s state-owned SANA news agency quoted a military official as saying that missile strikes in the early hours of the morning had damaged air defence sites in the country’s southern region. The report blamed Israel.
The explosions in Isfahan and the attacks in Syria come amid a steady escalation in tensions between the two Middle Eastern nations since Israel began its war on Gaza. While Israel and Iran have been locked in a “shadow war” for decades, recent months have brought tensions to a boiling point — and prompted worries about a wider regional conflict.
Here’s a timeline of that recent escalation since the Gaza war broke out following an October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas.
