500 Israeli, US military, strategic sites hit in escalating war, Iran says
US media cite Central Command as saying 18 American service members have been seriously wounded since the launch of joint US-Israeli military offensive against Tehran.
Iran's retaliatory strikes have so far targeted 500 sites linked to Israel and the US in the Middle East, the Revolutionary Guards have said on the third day of fighting.
"Since the start of the conflict, the brave soldiers of the Iranian armed forces have attacked 60 strategic targets and 500 American military targets and targets of the Zionist regime (Israel)," the Guards said in a statement on Monday.
It added that they had launched more than 700 drones and hundreds of missiles.
Tehran has launched multiple waves of ballistic missiles and drones in retaliation for joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and targeted other sites.
Some Iranian attacks have targeted Israel directly, resulting in the death of at least 11 people (including incidents in central Israel like Beit Shemesh and near Jerusalem) with multiple injuries.
Iran has also struck US military assets and bases across the region, resulting in at least four US service members killed and several others wounded.
Gulf states hosting US forces, such as the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, have also faced direct Iranian missile and drone attacks on military, civilian, and infrastructure sites.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday that 18 American service members have been "seriously wounded" since the beginning of the joint US-Israeli military offensive against Iran, CNN reported.
The update by spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins followed the confirmation of a fourth fatality, a service member who succumbed to his wounds sustained during Iran’s initial wave of counterattacks.
At least 555 people have been killed across Iran in the joint US-Israeli attacks on 131 counties so far, the Red Crescent says.
The deadliest single incident occurred in the city of Minab in southeastern Iran, where a strike on an elementary girls’ school left 180 students dead.