US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett has said Israel’s “targeted strikes on military targets” are “an exercise of self-defence and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1”.

The United States was “informed beforehand and there is no US involvement,” a US defence official told AFP, on condition of anonymity.

The official did not say how far in advance the United States had been informed or what had been shared by Israel.

The scope and nature of Saturday’s strike was not immediately clear.