Israel-Iran tensions: key dates since October 7 attack

After Israel's reported attack on Iran early Friday, here is a summary of the growing tensions between the two arch-rivals since the start of the war in Gaza.

 Hamas attack 

On October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas militants carry out an unprecedented attack on Israel, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says Iran supports the Palestinians' "legitimate defence".

He accuses Israel of "endangering the security of nations in the region".

In central Tehran, banners are raised showing solidarity with the Palestinians.

On October 28, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirms that 90 percent of Hamas's military budget comes from Iran.

"It funds, it organises, it directs it."

Adding to the Israel-Iran tensions since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire.

And since November, Yemen's Iran-backed Huthis, who control the capital Sanaa, have attacked ships in the Red Sea, in professed solidarity with Palestinians.

  Death of top commander 

On December 25, Iran blames Israel for an attack in Syria that kills Razi Moussavi of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He is the most senior Quds Force commander to be killed outside Iran in nearly four years.

Weeks later in January, a strike in Damascus kills five Revolutionary Guards members.

Iranian media later reports the victims included the group's intelligence chief for Syria, and his deputy.

 Attack on Iranian embassy 

On April 1, an air strike blamed Israel against Iran's diplomatic mission in Damascus levels the embassy's consular annex.

It kills seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Israel will "be slapped" after the strike.

"The defeat of the Zionist regime in Gaza will continue and this regime will be close to decline and dissolution," says Khamenei.

 Iran hits back 

Nearly two weeks later, Iran sent a barrage of more than 300 missiles, drones and rockets at Israel.

The attack launched overnight Saturday-Sunday is Tehran's first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory.

It causes little damage, however, as Israel and other nations intercept most projectiles.

Iran characterises the attack as an act of self-defence and says it will consider the matter "concluded" unless Israel retaliates.

On Friday, Iran's state media reports explosions in the central province of Isfahan, as US media quotes officials saying Israel has carried out revenge strikes against its arch-rival.