Nine people killed in missile strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh

Jerusalem: As many as nine people were killed in an Iranian missile strike on the civilian neighbourhood of Beit Shemesh in Israel on Sunday, local media reported.

The missile hit a residential area in the city, destroying a synagogue and a public bomb shelter while nearby homes suffered extensive damage, The Times of Israel reported.

Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg said that they have not been able to contact 20 residents. He stated that it “does not necessarily mean anything happened to them”.

Speaking to reporters, Greenberg said: “It could very well be that we’re not finding them, but we are doing everything we can,” according to the Times of Israel.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) accused Iran of firing missiles towards the civilian neighbourhood of Beit Shemesh, killing innocent civilians.

In a statement shared on X, it said: “The Iranian Regime directly fired missiles toward the civilian neighborhood of Beit Shemesh, killing innocent civilians. The Iranian regime purposely targets civilian targets while we precisely target terror targets. This is who we’re operating against—a regime who uses civilian casualties as their war tactic.”

Earlier in the day, the IDF said that Iranian Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Abdolrahim Mousavi and other top Iranian security leaders were killed.

“Abdolrahim Mousavi, the Iranian Chief of Staff of the armed forces. Additionally, the IDF struck & eliminated 7 members of the top Iranian security leadership in Tehran and 40 senior commanders,” IDF posted on X.

The IDF also revealed that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed inside his leadership compound in central Tehran, asserting that the operation marked the end of what it described as a decades-long chapter of terror directed against Israel.

Khamenei was killed in an attack by the US and Israel, marking an inflexion point in the 46-year Shia-theocratic rule, as Tehran’s retaliation set off conflagrations in a swath of the Middle East.

Detailing the circumstances of the strike, the Israeli military said: “The Air Force, under precise intelligence guidance from the Military Intelligence and in cooperation with the Military Intelligence, attacked the leadership compound in the heart of Tehran where he was staying along with other senior officials.”

It described Khamenei as the head of what it termed the Iranian “terrorist regime” since 1989 and accused him of advancing an extremist ideology directed against Israel and Western nations. It further alleged that he was “directly responsible for the violent repression of Iranian citizens for many years”.

“Khamenei was the father of the plan to destroy the State of Israel, the ‘head of the Iranian octopus’, who sent his arms throughout the Middle East and to the borders of the State of Israel, led by the terrorist organisation Hezbollah. The leader of the regime was responsible for terrorist attacks on the State of Israel and had the blood of many citizens from all over the world on his hands,” the IDF added.

The military said the killing was part of a broader campaign targeting key figures aligned with what it called the “Iranian terror axis”.

IANS