JERUSALEM, March 12 - The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had carried out strikes on checkpoints in Tehran run by the Basij militia, describing the action as part of efforts to weaken the authority of Iran's clerical leadership.
In a written statement, the military said it had recently identified new Basij roadblocks within Tehran. Acting on intelligence from the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli Air Force targeted those roadblocks and associated operatives "over the past day," the statement said.
The military described the Basij as a part-time paramilitary force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It said the militia has been frequently deployed to suppress protests inside Iran, and that the forces targeted by the strikes had led the regime's principal efforts to quash internal demonstrations.
According to the Israeli statement, those forces were responsible for employing severe violence, conducting mass arrests, and using force against civilian demonstrators, particularly in recent months.
The announcement comes against the backdrop of a broader bombing campaign in Iran conducted by Israel and the United States that began on February 28. The initial strike of that campaign killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the statement noted. Officials in both countries have urged Iranians to rise up and remove their clerical rulers.
Public reaction in Iran to the February 28 strike has been mixed. The military said many Iranians want change and that some openly celebrated Khamenei's death, pointing to the deadly response by his forces to protests in January, when those forces had killed thousands of anti-government demonstrators.
Despite the calls for change and public expressions by some, the Israeli statement acknowledged a lack of evidence of any organized dissent emerging while the country is being attacked. It also noted there was no indication that Iran's rulers were prepared to relinquish power.
Context and reporting note
The information in the military statement focuses on the identification of Basij deployments in Tehran and subsequent targeting by the Israeli Air Force based on IDF intelligence. The military emphasized the role those Basij units played in suppressing recent protests through violence and arrests.
The public picture described in the statement contrasts reported desires for change among some Iranians with the absence of coordinated, large-scale uprising while Iran faces external military action.