“Precise strikes on military targets.”

In the early hours of Saturday local time, Israel launched direct airstrikes against Iran, conducting what it said was “precise strikes on military targets.”

The Israeli military said it had targeted Iranian missile manufacturing sites and aerial defense systems in what appeared to be a highly calculated response that avoided critical energy infrastructure, such as oil fields and nuclear facilities.

Israel said on Saturday it had struck military targets inside Iran in response to earlier Iranian attacks, again raising fears that the long-running confrontation between the two powerful militaries could escalate into an all-out regional war that draws in the United States.

Calling the strikes a “clear violation” of international law, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “considers itself entitled and obligated to defend itself.”

The Iranian army said Saturday morning that two soldiers were killed in the strikes, without clarifying where the deaths happened. The Iranian soldiers died “confronting the projectiles of the criminal Zionist entity,” a reference to Israel, the army said in a statement, which was published on state media.

But Iran also appeared to downplay the impact, claiming its air defenses had successfully countered the strikes in three provinces – Tehran, Ilam and Khuzestan – and that the damage was “limited.”

The US meanwhile described the attack as “an exercise in self-defense” that “specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets.”

Israel had vowed Iran would pay for its large-scale missile attack on October 1 that saw around 200 missiles fired at Israel, forcing people across the country to take cover in bomb shelters. For weeks Israeli leaders have been deliberating on the nature and scope of such a response.