Israel carried out a series of airstrikes against Iran on Saturday, marking a significant escalation in their ongoing conflict. The strikes came in response to Iran's firing of ballistic missiles at Israel, which was itself a retaliation for Israel killing an Iranian commander and leaders of Iranian-backed groups. The recent exchanges between the two countries have broken their longstanding practice of avoiding direct military clashes. The targets of the Israeli strikes and the details of how they were carried out are still emerging. The United States, which has confirmed the Israeli attack, has not commented further on the situation.