Israel and the United States launched large-scale military operations early Saturday, targeting sites in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. Israeli officials said the campaign was intended to create conditions for regime change in Tehran. The strikes marked one of the most extensive coordinated offensives in the region in recent years.

In Tehran, an Israeli strike reportedly killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with the country’s defense minister and several senior commanders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Israeli Air Force carried out what officials described as its largest-ever aerial assault, focusing on military and leadership targets.

Iran responded by launching missile attacks across the Middle East, targeting Gulf nations and United States military bases. Since late February, ballistic missile strikes have killed two soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces and eleven civilians in Israel, with more than three thousand four hundred people reported injured. Eleven American soldiers were also reported killed in retaliatory attacks.